Cas grew up in Castlemaine, Central Victoria and trained as a chef there and in Melbourne before heading off to see the world. A couple of years foot travel and six years living and working on sailing boats saw Cas end up in America where a chance encounter with lampworked glass caught her attention. On returning to Australia in 2001 she setup a simple torch at the kitchen table and taught herself how to make soft glass beads. Beads turned into jewellery and the table turned into a mess as Cas started to show her work at Kirra and other galleries. New equipment came from America and a studio was built freeing up the kitchen table for more social things. Cas experimented with fine metals and organic shapes. Looking to create a sense of depth she worked on large pendants and abstract neckpieces made out of broken furnace blown vessels from the studio of a local glassblower.
A move into sculptural glass blowing in 2006 fed Cas’s desire for depth in her work. Mostly self taught, she brings a sense of fun into her work whilst exploring deeper more personal questions. She is currently working with sea life themes drawing on her affinity with the ocean and a series of works addressing mortality.
Cas’s work is held by glass enthusiasts in many countries and has been shown at the Asian Arts Fair in Singapore and Sofa Chicago. She has exhibited her work yearly at the ʻFlame On Glassʼ showcase at Kirra Gallery since its inception in 2002.
Cas lives and works in Castlemaine.
‘I was intrigued by windows as a girl, always wanting to keep them clean so as to look out into the world, and I used to collect shells, always taking one back to the beach for each new one I found. I wanted to be sure that there would be enough shells to make sand to turn into glass.
The fascination for glass has always been with me, and on discovering glass at 30 as a medium to work with I simply felt I had arrived.ʼ