Abstract Blown Sculptures ‘Vortex Wave’ by Phil Vickery

Phil Vickery’s abstract blown sculptures are full of energy, life and movement. This beautiful ‘Vortex Wave’ sculpture was created by gathering the molten glass over and over again. The internal twist is completely encased inside a clear glass layer. Gold is then added to create a shining veil, and the whole piece is flattened to form a flat oval shape and pulled into the final form. The skills required to produce this is certainly mind-boggling!

Phil’s abstract blown sculptures is a visual metaphor of a whirlpool in water made into glass art.

Abstract Blown Sculptures Artist

Phil Vickery is an international award-winning British glass artist that is based in the North East of England. His glass art represents nature, energy, movement and various emotional states of the mind, or the subconscious. He developed a unique technique where an internal membrane of glass is twisted along the length of the piece in a fluid manner. The technique creates an effect in the structure that is reminiscent of a double helix; the very building block of life itself. From this, he developed sculptures to represent nature, life, energy, and movement. He emulates this idea in form and content.

Sometimes the form is driven sculpturally to make an abstract. He works with the fluidity of the glass in a molten state to manipulate it, mould it, and work with the gravitational force to create his signature spiral.

This work is a design evolution of the idea that the technique represents nature, life, energy, and movement. These pieces are gathered over and over again to make the internal twist completely encased inside the clear glass. This creates a visual metaphor of a maelstrom in water. Gold is then encased to create a shining veil, and the whole piece is flattened to form a flat oval shape. It is then cut and polished to reveal the internal structure.

Artist’s Statement:
“As an artist, I find glass one of the greatest challenges; one has to understand not only about art theory and contemporary context but also the nature of this fluid material.”