Profile

Una Galbraith is a kiln-formed glass artist based in Scotland. She began working with glass at a night class at The Glasgow School of Art in 2017 and is now a full-time glass artist and professional member of the Scottish Glass Society and Contemporary Glass Society.

She has a PGCert in Wildlife Biology and Conservation and a COSCA Certificate in Counselling Skills which often form the basis of her explorations in glass. There are emerging themes of balance and opposition in Una’s work, expressed through repeated mark-making, bold colours and delicate forms. In 2023 Una received a VACMA (Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award) from Creative Scotland to create a collection inspired by by the peat bog ecosystem and wider flowlands landscape of Caithness.

To create her vessels, Una applies glass powders to transparent sheet glass which she then makes marks in. The glass is then fuse fired in the kiln to about 800°C before the process is repeated on the reverse side. Then the sheet glass is transformed from a 2D sheet into a 3D vessel through a slump firing which involves actively monitoring the kiln at temperatures of around 700°C. Each kiln firing takes 24 hours with each piece requiring around three firings to achieve its final form. The pieces are then cold worked using a variety of machine and hand finishing techniques.