Press Releases

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17 November 2006 to January 2007

The power of myth and archetypes are two prime interests that underlie Emma Woffenden‘s current work. The formal language of her figures and tableaux represents a new departure; her cast of characters, both human and animal, are assemblages of simple shapes, although each carries a distillation of references and experiences.

She speaks of an enduring concern with the communicative power of bodily gesture and this is something that she admires in tribal carvings from Africa and New Guinea as well as in medieval icons and in the paintings of saints from the early Renaissance. But there are also echoes of modernist art among these new pieces that include evocations of Russian Constructivist figures and the Surrealist sculpture of Man Ray. Such a range of associations combined with Woffenden‘s fresh input give her works a timeless quality.

Her approach is both direct and ingenious. The figures and tableaux are variously composed from cut and assembled sections of glass bottles (a way of working she has perfected through her design work for Transglass in collaboration with her husband Tord Boontje), but also incorporate cast glass, blown glass and plastic elements.

The resulting works are enigmatic and insistent. They are strange and yet familiar. It is as if half-remembered characters and incidents from sub-conscious or liminal states have overtaken us. Scenes that we encounter include a slowly turning ballerina lit like a beacon; a mouse-like creature, with the legs of a fawn, that carries a tiny human in its mouth; an elephant headed man, with arms raised heavenward, who has fallen to his knees before a tomb.

Biographical notes

Born 1962, Emma Woffenden studied at West Surrey College of Art & Design (1981 ­ 84) and the Royal College of Art, London (1991 ­ 93). She is recognised as one of Britain‘s leading glass artists and her work has been exhibited widely throughout Europe and the USA. Collections that hold examples of her studio work include The British Council, Brussels, Belgium; Ernsting Glass Museum, Germany; Brighton & Hove Museum; Broadfield House Glass Museum, West Midlands; the Victoria & Albert Museum, Wellcome Trust, Crafts Council and Arts Review, London. Her award winning designs for Transglass can be found in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. She lives and works in France.



For more information, transparencies, or to arrange an interview with the artist please contact

Juliana Barrett

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