Colin Reid

Born 1953, Cheshire, England

"If I were to identify a single thread that runs through my work it would be the influence of nature. That is the source to which I return for inspiration and fresh material for my work. I work in kiln-cast glass, using various moulding techniques to make the forms and moulds in which I cast my glass. My current work is mainly in optical glass because I like its purity. Firings are long, three weeks is typical, so I can get thickness and depth. When the piece comes out of the kiln it is only the start of the making process. There is much cold-work to be done, grinding, polishing, and sandblasting. The pieces evolve and change at this stage as I respond to what has come out of the kiln. Chance plays its part. The tension between what is planned and controlled and what is unexpected can be both creative and disastrous. I do not open the kiln if I am having a bad day. The quality I am after is elusive, impossible to describe, but I know it when I see it."

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Working in Gloucestershire

1970-1972   St. Martins School of Art, London
1975-1977   Trained and worked in industry as Scientific Glassblower (Lampwork)
1978-1981   Stourbridge School of Art, Stourbridge, BA (1st Class Hons) Glass

Colin Reid has achieved worldwide acclaim for his mastery of the techniques of kiln-casting and polishing glass.  His work commands attention through intriguing reflections and optical illusions within his sculptures.  He graduated from the Stourbridge School of Art, Stourbridge in 1981 and his work has been exhibited widely and collected by museums throughout the world.  A number of his assistants have emerged from his studio to become leading glass artists in their own right.  Colin’s work often amazes those who have never seen it before and recent themes of his sculptures have included castings of masonry at Burton Agnes Hall, an Elizabethan house in Yorkshire.

Colin Reid has work in the following public collections:

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham
Broadfield House Glass Museum, Stourbridge
Crafts Council, London
National Museum Cardiff, Wales
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
National Museums Liverpool, Merseyside
Norfolk Museums & Archeology Service, Norwich
Nottingham Castle Museum, Nottingham
Reading Museum, Reading
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
The McManus, Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum, Dundee
The Wilson Arts Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham
Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, Czech Republic
Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft, Denmark
Glass Art Fund, Strasbourg, France
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Munich, Germany
Glasmuseum, Die Ernsting Stiftung Alter Hof Herding, Coesfeld, Germany
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, Germany
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Schloss Pillnitz, Dresden, Germany
Kunstmuseum der Stadt, Düsseldorf, Germany
Museum für Modernes Glas, Oehringen, Germany
Museum für Modernes Glas, Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Coburg, Germany
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo en Vidrio de Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain
Glasmuseum, Hergiswil, Luzern, Switzerland
Musée cantonal de design et d’arts appliques contemporains, Lausanne, Switzerland
Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin, USA
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Corning Museum of Glass, New York, USA
Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii, USA
Indianapolis Museum of Art: Newfields, Indiana, USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama, USA
National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Seven Bridges Foundation, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan, USA
The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Shanghai Museum of Glass, Shanghai, China
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan
Koganezaki Crystal Park, Nishiizu, Shizuoka, Japan
Otaru City Museum of Art, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan
Shimonoseki City Art Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Toyama City Board of Education, Toyama, Japan
Auckland Museum, Auckland, New Zealand
Carrington Polytechnic Collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand