Shirley Spencer - Artist

Born in Manjimup and grew up on a farm surrounded by Karri trees and wildflowers. Studied nursing at Royal Perth Hospital and King Edward Memorial.

Married and had four children and when the youngest started school I enrolled at Forrestfield TAFE in an Art and Design Diploma course. I completed the course in the mid 80's specialising in pottery.

For the last 12 years I have also been working with glass, experimenting with float or window glass incorporating copper, wire and pottery stains for added interest.

Recently I have been using more of the coloured art glass and the use of Dichroic art glass, a spin off from the space industry which has added a different dimension to my works. Dichroic glass is made where thin layers of metallic oxides such as Titanium, Silica and Magnesium are deposited on the surface of the glass in a high temperature furnace. These coatings transmit certain wave lengths of light while reflecting others, resulting in an iridescent effect observed in nature's fire opals, dragon fly wings and hummingbird wings.

I fire in an electric kiln and love the excitement of opening the kiln to see what effect the firing has had on the glass.