Bag of Jawbreakers - Madeleine Hughes, Blown Away Contestant
Bag of Jawbreakers - Madeleine Hughes, Blown Away Contestant
by Madeleine Hughes£890.00
Sweet Memories
After creating the gumball machine on Blown Away, I started reminiscing about the times I would go to the shops with my friends as a child, and come home with striped paper bags bulging with sweets – and I wondered how many other people must share a similar fond memory.
Nostalgia is defined as a ‘a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.’ I hope that my brightly coloured and playful bags of sweets evoke feelings of nostalgia and put a smile on people’s faces. The World we live in is stressful and fast- paced and it is nice sometimes to stop and remember little things that have given us pleasure in our past.
Simon Bruntnell Photography
Having grown up loving art in many of its forms, I feel particularly fortunate to have found the area in which I want to focus and to which I want to devote my attention. I am passionate about hot glass, and driven by a desire to harness the unique qualities of the material which lend themselves so well to artistic expression.
After attending a taster session at London Glassblowing I was immediately hooked by the mesmerising qualities of molten glass. I moved my life from South Wales to Stourbridge, West Midlands to work unpaid in a Hotshop for a year, to gain experience . I then went back to study at the University of Wolverhampton where I was awarded a BA (honours) degree in Applied Arts, having focussed predominantly in hot glass.
I have since then been creating and making my own designs alongside assisting Allister full time at Allister Malcolm Glass Ltd.
For me, my art is a platform where I feel I am able to express myself fully, finding the physical effort expended in the workshop therapeutic and fulfilling. I create fun and colourful glass art which I hope may spark new interest in the material and help keep the craft of glassblowing alive.
About the artist
Madeleine Hughes
Born in Brighton , Madeleine grew up in Newport, South Wales and displayed an inclination for art at a very young age. By the time she left secondary school her focus was on fine art and whilst studying for a foundation diploma in art at the Arts University, Bournemouth she discovered a love for three-dimensional work.