About Mandy....
Mandy was born and grew up in Leipzig, East Germany. She came to England in 1998 and stayed. She completed a BA Degree in Art for Community and Cultural Studies at Roehampton University in 2004. Despite always having an interest in crafts, Mandy enrolled for the Glass module only out of curiosity and therefore stumbled more or less into the medium she still feels most passionate about.
Throughout her studies Mandy enjoyed most the process of designing very site-specific art works for public places. Her degree work was a large Mosaic entitled The Wave which is situated at the Birth Centre Reception at Queen Charlotte Hospital in London. Her theoretical work in Cultural Studies surrounded issues of East German identity and culture. Mandy's dissertation on the subject entitled Divided Unity won her the School of Humanities and Cultural Studies Dissertation Prize 2004.
In 2006 Mandy completed an MRes Degree in Art Studies at Roehampton University. There she took her theoretical studies on East German identity further onto a journey of Looking for home. She set out to find traces of the former state and every day life in East Germany in contemporary Germany. The photographs and artefacts she took and collected over a period of more than a year were eventually assembled in a room, recreating a journey to find, explore and evaluate these memories. In her practical work she concentrated on the notion of personal ‘memory’ through her Stained Glass work entitled These Things they go away, replacey by everyday, conveying the nature of personal memories which can sometimes be translucent, damaged or completely absent.
Over the years Mandy has been commissioned for an ever-increasing number of personalised glassware as well as paintings and illustrations. Her field trips haven often taken her to Cornwall where she practised outdoor landscape painting with the late Michael Upton, RCA and Tim Hall. In 2008 she attended a workshop in Lampworking at Phillyglassworks in Philadelphia, USA. Together with Fabric Nation Mandy regularly participates in Wandsworth Artists Open Houses and Sparkle Contemporary Craft and Gourmet Food Fair at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington. In 2008 she completed a NOCN Level 2 Studio Glass course at Richmond Adult Community College to furthen her glass skills and is a committee member of the Just Glass Society.
Mandy now has an extensive range of fused glass items such as glass bowls, coasters, jewellery items and personalised gifts for new babies, weddings and other special occasions.
