Rebecca Newnham FRSS
Glass plays a significant role in Rebecca Newnham's work. The sculpture is concerned with the natural and botanical world and scientific ideas about how it functions. Following the pandemic, this feels even more urgent to communicate because we sometimes take it for granted, nature and our understanding of how it works demands respect and appreciation.
The glass skin is painted with glass enamel and then fired to make permanent. The colours cannot fade as they become intrinsic. The surface is then cut up and collaged, literally wrapping the painting around curved forms, playing with pixels of the image and facets of refracted light.
The structure of sculptures for the interior are created in timber and for exterior works since 2017, a durable system which incorporates stainless steel with a marble dust render, which is kinder to the environment than alternatives.