Mariel Waddell-Hunter is an award-winning glass artist. She graduated

from Hot Glass Forming at Sheridan College School of Craft and Design. In

2005 she received the Betty Kantor Award and the Summer Residency

Scholarship from the Harbourfront Center in Toronto. In 2006 she received

the Don Lee Award and an Honorable Mention for the 2006 Sheridan

Graduate Show.

Mariel was born in Trinidad and has lived in other tropical countries such

as Barbados and Costa Rica. The experience of living in these countries

has become the foundation of her inspiration. Using molten hot glass bits

Mariel sculpts and captures pieces of the oceans reefs and currents onto

her vessels. Currently Mariel is co-owner and glassblower at the Kingston

Glass Studio & Gallery in Kingston, Ontario. Mariel’s work can be found in

galleries, public collections, private collections and museums, across North

America and other parts of the world.

 

“My native islands, Trinidad and Tobago, have always inspired me. The

experience of living in these centers of natural beauty has been the main

foundation for my artistic vision. I use a combination of thickness and

temperature which allows me to create pieces with multifaceted

appearance and reflective effects, creating movement in my work. By

trailing and sculpting molten bits of glass, I attempt to capture the beauty

and essence of water and life within the ocean. The malleable quality of

glass provides the ideal medium for sculptural representations of liquid

movement and ocean currents. The ‘Ocean Series’ has been very

successful both artistically and commercially; it has even garnered an

award from the Ontario Crafts Council.

Early in my career, a piece from my ‘Coral Series’ was purchased by the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and is currently held in their private

collection. Since then, I have been researching different species of coral

and marine invertebrates and am aesthetically drawn to reef animals that

grow in clusters and that demonstrate repetitive patterns and varying

textures. I would like to distil individual components of these clusters and

recreate them in glass. Most recently, I have become interested in

exploring Canadian based themes. My ‘Glacial Woods’ series plays on

the visual imagery of a forest in winter. Each piece evokes a tree encased

with ice, highlighting the textures of the bark and transparency and shine

of the ice. Although these works draw upon my experience in Canada,

water remains at the root of my artistic expression.”