Stained Glass Painting Workshop: Create Your Own Glass Roundel

I’m Helen Brough, a London-based contemporary glass artist, and I absolutely love sharing my passion for glass with other people.For me, one of the most exciting things about working with glass is seeing how colour and light transform as you paint onto its surface. In my workshops, I want people to experience that sense of discovery for themselves. You don’t need to be an artist or have any previous experience — I’ll guide you through the process step by step and encourage you to experiment and develop your own ideas.In the stained glass painting workshop, you will begin by learning how to work with specialist glass paints and how they behave on the surface of the glass. You will explore line, mark-making, colour and transparency before creating your own design on a glass roundel. We’ll look at how different layers of paint can create depth and how the kiln firing process transforms the painted glass.Once you have completed your painting, I will carefully kiln-fire your roundel in my studio. This firing process permanently fuses the specialist glass paint to the glass, bringing out the colours and creating the beautiful luminous quality that makes painted glass so special. Your finished roundel will then be ready for you to collect the following week.I have been working professionally as an artist for more than 30 years. I studied Sculpture at Chelsea School of Art, graduating with First Class Honours before completing an MA, and have exhibited my work internationally in galleries, museums and art fairs.Over my career I have received a number of prestigious awards, grants and residencies, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Soros Foundation Exhibition Grant, Prince Charles Travel Award, Prix de Rome British School of Rome, Bemis Center residency, Triangle Workshop residency in Brooklyn, an Arts Council England Grant, and a QEST Award from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. In 2024 I was awarded the Glass Sellers’ Livery Bursary at Cockpit Arts.My work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, SCOPE Art Basel Miami, London Art Fair, Affordable Art Fair and London Craft Week, as well as internationally in New York, Copenhagen, Budapest and the United States. My work is held in collections including the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation, Cantor Fitzgerald, Joslyn Art Museum, Bemis Center, National Art Museum in Budapest, Two Trees and the Ashurst Collection in London.My own artistic practice explores light, colour, memory and perception through glass. I work with reverse glass painting, kiln-fired enamels, gold leaf, dichroic glass and contemporary glass techniques.Most importantly, I want my workshops to be relaxed, creative and enjoyable. I love seeing people discover that they can create something beautiful with glass, often producing something completely different from what they initially imagined.Come and spend a Saturday morning experimenting with colour, painting and light — and create your own unique piece of glass art along the way.