Kim Bramley

This is Kim’s First Solo Exhibition in the UK exhibiting both Kiln-formed Glass and Paintings.

It was during the first Lockdown in 2020 that Kim decided to create a new body of work. For the first time, this was a series of paintings created in the mediums of acrylic paint, mixed media collage and sometimes including stitches in metallic thread…. A union of her fashion and textile days merging with handmade paper collage and leaning on the language she has developed in glass over the previous 20 years. Kim now creates series of work that evolve both in her kiln and on canvas.

Kim Bramley studied Fashion and Textile Design at Saint Martin's School of Art in London graduating in 1992. Initially she designed printed textiles and then created handmade paper for a number of years, until she re-trained in techniques for kiln-formed glass.

Since 2000, Kim has been a glass designer/maker, making kiln-formed glass pieces of jewellery, tableware, interior design statement pieces, as well as glass for small architectural commissions.

Kim uses various Kiln-formed Glass Techniques to create her work. Her basic materials are coloured sheet glass and glass powders. The sheets are cut up and layered into a composition on the bed of the kiln and the first firing is a fuse firing, in which the pieces melt together and the colours merge, often into an effect not dissimilar to layering watercolours in various brushstrokes to create an image.Kim uses ceramic moulds to 'slump' the fused piece into, to create a form. She works with a glass drill, glass saw, polishing and grinding wheels and a diamond wheel engraving lathe.

In 2015, Kim and her husband moved to live in Morbihan, South Brittany, France. Kim's Atelier is located in their home, a renovated former milking parlour in the heart of a Dairy Farming Community. It is rural, tucked away and peaceful. Surrounded by pastureland filled mostly with cows and tractors, her hours in the atelier are punctuated by daily walks with her dog and plenty of time spent nurturing a garden they are creating around their home.Kim’s paintings are lyrical abstracts.They start with little or no plan and evolve through many layers often built up of bold, energetic marks in thick paint and oil pastel, combined with more subtle thin glazes of paint, mixed in with paper collage and sometimes stitched thread details. Her paintings are predominately abstract, relying on an emotional response to the materials used, but sometimes a more realistic element establishes itself in the composition, whether landscape or still-life based.

Gentle Translucent layers of Colour as well as bold pattern making are strong elements in her work, that often connect her Paintings with companion glasswork.

Training & ExperienceBA Degree in Fashion & Textile Design, Saint Martin's School of Art, London.Masterclasses at Northlands Creative Glass School, Lybster, Scotland with Jessica Loughlin in 2003, Warren Langley in 2004, Klaus Moje 2005, Alison Kinnaird in 2006, Emma Woffenden in 2007 and Kaffe Fassett and Steve Klein in 2009.

2005 - Kim did a residency in Borlange Glas Verkstad, a glass Co-operative studio in Sweden. She was teaching assistant to the Swedish glass Artist, Ingelena Klenell, on the course in glass fusing techniques.2006 - Kim worked with Sami glass artist, Monica Edmondson in her studio in Lapland.



2021 & 2022 -Training with Nicholas Wilton, a Californian Fine Artist, on his 12 week online Creative Visionary Program,CVP.Kim has exhibited her glass for over 20 years in galleries in England, Scotland, Wales and Germany and has created many pieces for private homes to commission.