On colour, form and light

Lecture ‘on colour, form and light’, Ausglass Conference 2015, Adelaide, Australia. A lecture about my research on colour in solid glass objects, focussing on factors that influence the appearance of colour in glass. Using sculptures by artists such as Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova, Frantisek Visner, Colin Reid and many others, colour appearance is analysed based on the following factors: Form of object; size of object in relation to amount of colouring agent; reflection, refraction and transmission of light; wavelength and intensity of incident light; angle of incident light; Surface finish; scattering of light. Light paths are discussed, using simple diagrams as well as glass objects such as lenses, prisms and sculptures which incorporate these elements. The appearance of transparent glasses of different thickness coloured with specific colouring agents is examined. The reasons for colour changes in dichroic and polychromatic glasses are explained. This talk aims to help artists’ understanding of volume colour and its properties, to enable intellectual underpinning of the intuition practitioners develop with experience