Author(s): Kay Lawrence, Sera Waters

ART & DESIGN

Clare Belfrage has built an extraordinary career as a glass artist. Clare Belfrage: Rhythms of necessity is the first major publication that explores the significance of her contribution to contemporary international glass art. Exhibited across the world, Belfrage's glass vessels explore the pulse and flow of forces that shape the natural world as well as the lived patterns of the everyday. A similar sense of rhythm underpins the structure of this book: an interleaving of short texts and stunning photographs of Belfrage's vessels that reveal her story to date. Belfrage's art practice is grounded in her experience of family life. She grew up in a large family in a house suffused with music and from early childhood enjoyed camping, which instilled in her a love of nature and the more-than-human world. As she says about looking closely at nature, 'the big feeling that "small" gives me is intimate and powerful'. Some of Belfrage's most celebrated series reveal her engagement with the rhythmic movements of glass-making, reflecting the dynamism and energy of the natural world. As well as showcasing her award-winning glass vessels, Clare Belfrage: Rhythms of necessity explores the bodily processes of glass blowing, particularly the specific skills of fine cane drawing for which she is renowned. Belfrage demonstrates her finely honed techniques in workshops and public forums across the international glass art community. Her practice stands out for pushing the limits of glass in new and sensitive directions.