- Tolly Nason
- Work
| Alongside her career as a glass artist, Tolly has a degree in Textiles and works as a professional photographer. Tolly has a passion for natural subjects and she travels extensively in search of inspiration. Her glasswork, which developed under some of the most influential and eminent glass artists in Sweden and the U.S., frequently focuses on the theme of extinction or unnoticed flora and fauna.
Tolly’s diverse creative backgrounds are mirrored by the variety of glass techniques she employs. With Pate-de-Verre, she expresses the beauty and fragility of glass found in her most recent series Living Rocks and Whimsicals. In contrast, the solid density of the cast glass finch beaks in her magnum opus Seeing the Light: Finch by Finch boldly reinforce the significance of the Galapagos finches to Darwin’s theory of evolution. Education 1999 - BA Honours Textiles: Winchester School of Art, UK 1996 - Diploma in Foundation Studies: Winchester School of Art, UK Awards 2008 - CGS Bursary for masterclasses at The Liquid Glass Centre, Bath, UK - South Cambridgeshire District Council Built Heritage Award scheme: 1st Place Contemporary Design sympathetic to the Historic Environment for ‘The Ark’ 1999 Georgina von Etzdorf Award for Innovation in Textiles 1998 1st place: Amoco Student Design Competition, (Weave) USA Honourable Mention Professional Experience 1997 - 3 weeks Personal Assistant Bertil Vallien, Kostaboda, Sweden 1998 - Semester at Rhode Island School of Design, USA, studying ‘liquid to Solid’casting with Daniel Clayman Casting with Rick Mills, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, USA 1999 - Degree Show Co-ordinator, Winchester, UK - Glass Beadmaking course, Pilkington Glass, Stourbridge ,UK - Pate-de-verre course, Corning Museum of Glass, USA 2000 - Photographic tuition, Cambridge Darkroom, Cambridge, UK 2002 - Botanical illustration, Cambridge University short course, UK - Nikon Professional Digital SLR course, London, UK 2003-04 - Design of own Website & set up of own business -‘Tolly’s Ark’ 2004 - Glass Techniques course with Helen Maurer, Central St.Martins College of Art, London, UK - Assistant to Layne Rowe, glassblower, London Glassblowing, UK 2006 - ‘Woven structures’ course with Mary Butcher, Cambridge, UK - Cast Glass tuition with Lucy Swift, London, UK 2008 - Glass Mouldmaking Masterclass with Fiaz Elson, Liquid Glass Centre, Bath, UK - Glass Coldworking techniques with Fiaz Elson, Liquid Glass Centre, near Bath, UK - ‘Printing with Light’ course, London Glassblowing, Shelley James & Louis Thompson Selected Exhibitions 1998 Neocon ’98 Chicago, USA 1999 ‘Action Japan’, Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham, UK New Designers, London, UK 2002-04 Darrel Nantais Gallery, Linton, Cambridgeshire, UK 2003-05 Bridges of St.Ives, Cambridgeshire, UK. 2004 ‘Through the Lens of the Artist, 7 Contemporary Photographers’, Limberhurst Arts, Cambridgeshire, UK 2004-05 ‘Affordable Art’, S.C.D.C., Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, UK Aisini Gallery, St.Ives, Cambridgeshire, UK Venue, Arts Picture House, Cambridge, UK Arthouse Gallery, Brighton, UK 2007 ‘Ray of Light’ joint exhibition with Layne Rowe, The Ark, Cambridge, UK ‘E-merge’ Solo Exhibition, The Upper Gallery, Cambridge, UK 2008 Affordable Art Fair, The Café Jello Gallery @ Battersea Park, London, UK Photographic Exhibition, Williams Art, Cambridge, UK Café Jello Glass Gallery, Cambridge, UK The Cambridge Galleries, Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire, UK 2009 ‘New Beginnings ‘09’, Society of Designer Craftsmen Gallery, London, UK Primavera Gallery, Cambridge, UK SOFA New York represented by Zest Gallery, London, UK Solo Exhibition, Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, UK ‘Transient boundaries’, 6 Contemporary Artists working in Glass, Clare Hall, Cambridge, UK ‘Melting Point’, Pyramid Gallery, York, UK 2010 SOFA New York, Zest Glass Gallery, UK 'Natural Selection' Solo exhibition, Zest Glass Gallery, UK |