Coalville CAN has become the first venue to stage the Nature in Glass exhibition which opened last week.

It will be on show in Coalville until next Sunday when it then moves to Bristol.

So why was Coalville chosen to hold what is a prestigious art exhibition?

The answer lies with one of the artists, Carla Harris-Marsh who is based in Swepstone.

She is a regular contributor to the Makers section at Coalville CAN, which sells work by local crafters.

Carla told Coalville Nub News what the exhibition is all about.

She said: "There are 14 artists in the exhibition.

"Having done some work with Catherine Dunstan, who is an experimental kiln-formed glass artist and teacher based in Bristol,

"We'd all either done a mentoring course with her or a continuing professional development course. 

"She put on an exhibition in Bristol last year, and from that exhibition, 14 of us have gone forward and formed the a glass art collective.

"We all put ideas forward for what the theme would be, and we narrowed it down, the most popular became the exhibition title. 

"So, its nature in glass. Everybody has done their interpretation of nature with most artists having three pieces in the exhibition."

It is a debut for the exhibition held at a venue which is fast growing a reputation for staging art.

Carla added: "I live in Swepstone, so it's local to me. The next nearest artist is in the Midlands, with all the others are down south. 

"So for me, it was important to bring an exhibition to the Midlands because in the art world, there's lots happening glass wise in Bristol and down south. There's quite a lot happening in Scotland, but the Midlands kind of misses out."

This is a spectacular collection of work, considering glass is such a fragile material to work with.

Carla added: "When you understand its parameters, can you can force it to do things.

"So when you make changes in a chemical reaction, it means that it's morphing into something else, right, then you can actually manipulate it in ways that you wouldn't be able to do without the heat.

"But the great thing is that they're all one-offs, you can try and recreate it, but it's never quite the same."

Nature in Glass runs until next Sunday (March 24) at Coalville CAN, details are HERE.