CertHE Ceramics & Glass

Ben Bavin is a contemporary glass artist with over 4 years experience blowing glass, graduating from the BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices degree at Plymouth College of Art in 2021. Ben is known for his experimental approach to glass, combining CAD/CAM processes with traditional glass techniques. His keen interest in digital technologies and blown glass enables a creative practice that is both concept and process-led with Ben pushing the boundaries and limits of glass as a material. His strong technical skills see him design and make innovative, complex, layered laser-cut plywood moulds that offer versatile arrangements and are much cheaper than conventional blow moulds.

Benjamin Lintell is an Artist and Glassblower creating glass art pieces in Venice, Italy, and working for Wave Murano Glass. He has been making glass since 2014, undertaking a BA (Hons) 3D Design Crafts degree at Plymouth College of Art, graduating in 2017. Benjamin has trained and collaborated with a number of notable glass artists in the UK, USA, Paris and Italy; and has exhibited at the Milano Vetro 35 in 2020, Talente Munich in 2018 and Venice Glass Week 2020 and 2021. His work and practice is all about translating the world around him, through the craft of glassblowing, into objects that reflect meaning and beauty. Benjamin looks to nature, activity, science, art, mathematics, and his own life experience for conceptual ideas to inform his glasswork. These ideas are then fused with his study of the traditions, history and craft of glassblowing to translate them into physical form. "Working with glass and ceramics is something I am addicted to. The material is always throwing curveballs at you every second and you have to react, which keeps it exciting."

Emmeline Kwaan is a BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices alumna of Arts University Plymouth. She was a Student Representative for her course for two years and was awarded Student Rep of the Year for 2020/21. She regularly took part in 'Getting To Know You' sessions within the college and enjoyed being an active member of the Academic Board and as Vice-President of Higher Education (HE) on the Student Executive Committee, where she engaged with student feedback and helped to implement positive change. She now runs Heart For Art, a community cafe by Victoria Park in Plymouth, which serves as a welcoming space for those wishing to try out one of her many creative workshops, network, or just have a cuppa and a chat.

Originally from Turkey, Zeynep is an innovative, energetic and passionate artist and maker, specialising in hot glass, cold working, lampworking, hand-built ceramics and model making, producing 3D pieces that are playful, impactful and have both exhibition and commercial potential. Zeynep studied BA (Hons) Crafts & Material Practices, graduating in 2023. During her studies, she took part in the university’s hot glass blowing event Melting Pot, was showcased in our Ones to Watch and was featured in Contemporary Glass Society’s Graduate Review where Zeynep received a Runner Up prize for her collar and vessel piece. She is currently undertaking scholarships to expand her skill set and is hoping to set up her own hot glass blowing studio in her home country of Turkey.

Rebecca Roberts completed her BA (hons) Ceramics in 2015 at Arts University Plymouth (formerly known as Plymouth College of Art) and is currently running her own studio in Plymouth. Rebecca undertook her degree specialising in ceramics, an art form she loves, after setting up on her own for a few years and then returning to education. Talking about her time at Arts University Plymouth, Rebecca says ‘the course was great and what I needed’. The course offered her a space to create, as well as follow her instincts and ideas; “I felt stretched and challenged’. Since leaving the college in 2015, Rebecca has undertaken a number of new ventures including a residency at The Creative Art School in Plymouth where she had the opportunity to undertake some teaching, as well as working as a Technician here at Arts University Plymouth. Since finishing her degree, Rebecca has spent time looking at how clay reacts under differing conditions, working with warping and cracking, the kind of work she feels some ceramicists would shy away from. Rebecca’s work is inspired by her love of the sea, so it is fitting that her new studio is based at Ocean Studios in Plymouth where she has been supported by RIO (a Plymouth based Social Enterprise). Rebecca’s desire is to create a workshop space that is inclusive, open to artists and the wider community. She has begun to offer ceramic workshops from within her studio as well as offering hire of the table and kiln space, encouraging others to share her passion for clay. Longer term Rebecca plans to offer courses that are open to the public and raise the profile of the facility to ensure it is sustainable. Follow Rebecca's Facebook, Instagram and website to keep up to date with her work.

Colin Wilkes is a former builder with over 15 years of experience working with different materials, especially concrete and timber. After studying BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices at Arts University Plymouth (then Plymouth College of Art) he launched his own maker practice in 2019, and now specialises as a glassblower, drawing on his previous skills from his time in the construction industry. Colin utilises accumulated knowledge of timber to construct forms for the concrete moulds he uses in the glass studio, combining his former trade skills and materials knowledge with his new talents as a glassblower. He draws on his expert experience of moulding techniques as a concrete finisher to make innovative new moulds for hot glass production. These forms then become part of the finished work, providing a contrast to the vibrant glass. The focus of Colin’s current practice is to work in a more sustainable way with his chosen materials, by continually recycling them and producing evolving mixed-media sculptures. Sustainability is one of his primary goals. Both glass and concrete are almost 100% recyclable, and Colin plans to use that to his advantage. He says, “I want to bring those materials that I am so used to working with, for example, the dull hard industrial concrete, the discarded or forgotten timber, and repurpose them by recycle/reuse and create evolving mixed-media sculptures. I don’t want to just use a conventional mould several times and let it end up at landfill.” Colin’s desire for his materials is to continually reuse and reshape. His intention is that even when materials are no longer usable as a form in their own right, they can still be used for another purpose, such as aggregate or subbase. Colin is based in Devon and was the recipient of the Design-Nation ‘Making It’ award in 2021, in partnership with the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.Since 2023, Colin has worked in our dedicated Crafts building as a Workshop Coordinator - Glass, supporting students from across the university in learning hot and cold glass techniques.

Ian Palfrey is a glass artist who graduated from Plymouth College of Art’s BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices degree in 2017. His work reflects his use of technologies to design and 3D print his ideas before casting them in glass using a variation of the lost wax method, as well as glass blowing.