Theo
Brooks

Biography

Theo Brooks is a British-Cypriot glass maker from London, UK. Brooks received his B.F.A from the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK and his M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University, USA. He trained in hot glass making with Simon Moore, and then glass lathe cutting with Philip Baldwin and Monica Guggisberg in Paris, France. Brooks has received awards through the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, Contemporary Glass Society and the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers. He has also scholarships to glass schools such as The Corning Museum of Glass, Toledo Museum of Glass,Tulsa Glass Blowing School and the Penland school of Crafts. He has works in permanent collections and exhibited internationally in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, China, Italy, Germany, UK and USA.

Artist Statement

British Cypriot by heritage, my passion is creating contemporary reinventions of important ancient Cypriot artefacts as sculptures and installations, to represent my Cypriot culture and promote Cypriot arts. Alongside this, I blend my two cultures into the aesthetics of the objects, taking visual inspiration from the dynamic lines and scenery of my home town of south London.

Through my research into ancient objects from Cyprus, my contemporary responses carry ideas of collectiveness and spirituality through culture and heritage. In particularly, the objects that were used in masking rituals of the late Bronze Age leading into the Iron Age. Through my creations of the glass mask sculptures, an insight is given to the essence of these fascinating ritualistic objects of the past, of how they were used, and the rituals and ceremonies they functioned in. The masks gave participants the opportunity to take on personas, or act as intermediaries to the divine. Through crafting objects inspired by observations of my heritage, it allows me to connect back to my ancestry and these mysterious ‘spaces’ in time, but also adding to the continuous overall dialogue. Since ancient times, glassmaking in Cyprus has not been present as a working medium, therefore I am presented with an amazing opportunity to translate cultural themes from folk stories and music, to ancient beliefs and religions into today’s world. The connection to tradition, ritual and history explored through such a challenging medium such as glass, gives a unique perspective, which has not been investigated in depth before. My primary glassmaking techniques involve hot glass processes such as hot sculpting and glass blowing, which are then combined with cold working processes such as lathe cutting and sandblasting to bring the work to life.