Artists
Alan Ussher
Alan Ussher was born in 1978 and from an early age had an ongoing interest in art and music.
Much of his youth was spent in the little town of Currabubula, where he had a very active childhood in the bush and around the creeks.
Alan later moved to Tamworth to finish high school - art, music and science were his main interests.
Alan studied Applied Science at university for a time in Lismore, moving back to the bush for four years. During this period he was exposed to a life of planting orchards, growing vegetables, playing music and blowing glass!
Alan began blowing glass using borosilicate in 2000, after being invited to work alongside his late friend Marcel Le Bars. Marcel and Alan had planned to run a glass blowing business together, but were involved in a car accident that ended Marcel's life tragically in 2002. This accident turned Alan's life upside down, and glass became the focus that moved his life forward.
In 2002, Alan was accepted into the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme which began his business as a Glassblower. He has been very focused ever since. Alan has spent time learning lampworking privately, but primarily, his creative development is the result of years of practice, and research.
Alan moved back to Lismore, and in 2005 started lampworking full time in his studio at Silver Cloud Studios, (formerly the 'Old Chocolate Factory' ), where he continues to develop a range of products which include: pendants, blown beads, perfume bottles, teapots, wine glasses, hair pins, rings, guitar slides, studio and functional buttons, sculpture, spinning tops, other vessels, custom designs, and collaborations with other artists.
"Glass blowing has become my life! I've found borosilicate to be a fascinating, challenging, and highly versatile medium. I strive to create objects of high quality, that are both beautiful and unique. The inspiration for my work comes from traditional techniques, nature, societies past and present, and the wider universe!"
Alan enjoys a life of growing organic vegetables, staying fit, playing piano and guitar, blowing and lampworking glass!