Charlie Burke

From a very young age, Charlie has known of glass as an artistic medium, ever since his parents opened their studio which he grew up in. The studio, E&M Glass, opened in 1987. Even with this familiarity with hot glass, it wasn’t until he went to Sunderland University that he began to experiment and explore its properities. Originally studying Fine Art; it later seemed inevitable that he would transfer to the BA Glass and Ceramics course, from which he graduated from with honours in 2010. He was also awared the Charles Bray award for Glass Excellence. Since leaving Sunderland, he has worked and several studios around the UK demonstrating and teaching glassblowing to others; finally settling back at home with E&M Glass, around 5 years ago working with Ed, Margaret and his wife Amelia Burke creating their own bodies of glassware.

Over the years of Charlie working with hot molten glass, he has found that he has wanted to create work that exaggerates its liquid qualities but in its solid state. He often uses colour to assist in this exaggeration of its form to help show the movement of the glass and the flowing qualities of the glass. In contrast to this, by also cutting and highly polishing the surface it displays the cold qualities of the glass too. Charlie’s main subject matter follows brain patterns and thought functions. The electricity of thought and the transference of information between pathways in the brain is what inspires him to create movement using molten glass.