Helga Reay-Young
Germany
born 1945
Helga Reay-Young trained as a joiner and studied architecture, she worked for 10 years in different architects offices in England and Germany, and went freelance in 1976. In 1986 she opened a Glass Studio in Germany after learning the trade at a professional company and gaining a diploma in Stained Glass from Central St. Martin, London.
After 25 years in the rural hills near Cologne, she now lives and works in Luebeck on the Baltic Sea. First came architecture, then art. Permitting freedom in choice of work, form and colour. Her workplace is her own studio. Themes include transparency and reflection, also natural elements. And, inspired by her years in architecture, the play with light and shadow - reoccur in her photography. Even though the scale of her pieces is intimate, some look like models for larger works. Aiming at optical harmony, they appear as natural combinations of material and texture.