Sheffield Artist Debra Burrell
We are very please to add Debra Burrell to our ever expanding list of “Fellow Sheffield Creatives”. Debra kindly agreed to a quick chat and showed us some of her amazing glass work.
We really love coloured glass and how it changes depending on the light – there’s something very up lifting and relaxing about a beautiful piece of glasswork.
Volta: Who or what inspired you to do what you do?
Debra: I’ve always loved glass, any brightly coloured formed or stained glass.
I first worked with glass during my teaching degree at Hallam University. I made a stained glass terrarium for one of my projects using Tiffany Foil method. I had friends who ran a stained glass business in Orchard Square 30 years ago.
I love Art, working with my hands and making things. My tutor didn’t believe me that I’d made it and I was furious. It was the most difficult and challenging thing I’d ever made.
Volta: What did you do before you did what you do now?
Debra: I used to work in an inner-city secondary school teaching Art. I loved the kids, my job and Art. I hated the politics, OFSTED, lesson observations, data and goal posts always moving. It sucked the life blood and joy out of my soul.
I knew I had to get out or learn something else as I was suffocating. I got to an age and thought is this it? Thankfully not.
Volta: Were you self-taught or have you had formal training?
Debra: I am mainly self taught.
I started at a night class for fused glass, run by the WEA. That’s where I met Krishna, a potter and an Artist teaching fused glass. I was hooked. I loved the uncertainty of it and often prayed to the kiln gods when putting a piece in. I learnt the basics and made a studio at home and bought my first kiln. I made a lot of mistakes, spent a lot of money on glass.
I learnt from my mistakes and got progressively better. I kept a journal, read books and carried on. The more I learnt, the better I got and was motivated and enthusiastically carried on. This was 10 years ago.
I now have a studio at Exchange Place, owned by Yorkshire Artspace.
Volta: What influence has living in Sheffield had on your creativity and how you approach your work?
Debra: There are so many creative people here that I’m privileged and honoured to know. Where I am now in Exchange Place Studios, there are plenty of creatives to bounce ideas off and get positive criticism from.
Volta: How did your current style develop and how do you see it developing in the future?
Debra: Because I have an Art background I wanted to put it to some use. I had some amazing projects I did at school and thought I could easily turn it to glass. I took photographs of nature, landscapes, trees and natural form. I was eager to adapt these into finished glass pieces.
I’m hoping to make bigger pieces, lamps and splash backs. I want to have more work in exhibitions, pop up shops and local Artists makers shops. Also developing classes teaching fused glass.
Volta: What piece of your own work gives you the most satisfaction and why?
Debra: There was one piece I sold years ago. It was supposed to be a freestanding sea piece with copper fish inclusions. I made a mistake popping it on the mould and ended up with a very happy accident. Something I’d never be able to recreate.
It had slid off the mould and the end had rolled up into a scroll. It looked like a wave.
Volta: What influence has living in Sheffield had on your creativity and how you approach your work?
Debra: There are so many creative people here that I’m privileged and honoured to know. Where I am now in Exchange Place Studios, there are plenty of creatives to bounce ideas off and get positive criticism from.
Volta: Do other areas of creativity, such as music, have any influence on your work?
Debra: Always music, colour, Impressionism. I’ve got to have music when I’m working. It helps with my thoughts and creativity.
Volta: Can you remember the first piece of work you ever sold?
Debra: Yes it was Silver Birch Trees. Still make it today but much improved.
Volta: If you could choose famous one person to own one of your pieces of work, who would it be?
Debra: It’s got to be Grayson Perry. A funny, passionate man dedicated to his craft who in my opinion is one of us.
Volta: What advice would you give an aspiring fellow creative who was wanting to break through to the next level?
Debra: Keep at it, ask questions, keep a journal.
Sheffield Artist Debra Burrell
Want to find out a little more about Sheffield Artist Debra Burrell and her glass work?
Here are links to Debra’s website and social media channels – enjoy!
www.andcreations-sheffield.co.uk