Karlyn Sutherland is a glass artist based in Berriedale, Scotland, working primarily with kiln-formed, fused glass. Her practice explores the connection between hand-making and a human sense of place, particularly how light, shadow and atmosphere influence our experience and memories of a space. For Karlyn, making is a contemplative process, an essential tool in exploring and strengthening her own relationship with and understanding of place.
Drawn to the material for its ability to hold and transform light, Karlyn uses layered planes of translucent, semi-translucent and opaque sheet glass to create subtle optical illusions that suggest depth, folds and surface shifts. Her current series includes wall pieces and furniture prototypes, each one meticulously hand-cut, assembled and kiln-fused. Once cooled, the glass is shaped using handheld grinding tools and finished by hand on a lapping plate with specialist abrasives to achieve its final surface.
QEST funding will support a short course titled ‘Essence’ and one-to-one training with Jessica Loughlin, an internationally recognised artist known for her minimalist aesthetic and focus on light. Both opportunities will deepen Karlyn’s technical and conceptual approach to kiln-formed glass.
