Drawn to Glass with Suzanne Head, Online Class, January 22, 23 and February 13, 2027

Drawn to Glass with Suzanne Head

Welcome to Drawn to Glass with Suzanne Head, a live online class that explores an exciting edge of possibility in kilnformed glass — realistic portraiture where specialized sifters and finely ground glass powders are used with the intention, control, and nuance of drawing.

In this course, artist and educator Suzanne Head introduces a highly refined approach to working with glass powder, uniting mark making and kilnforming in ways that allow for exceptional precision, depth, and luminosity. Students will be introduced to the methods and tools through mark making exercises and a small drawing, using black powder to explore tonal range, shape, and form. The main class project is a self portrait combined with an atmospheric background using stencils from found objects of your choosing.

Step by step, you'll learn how glass powder can be handled like a drawing tool — building form and atmosphere — while using the transparency of glass to layer the realism of the portrait against the looseness of the background into a single, visually unified fused work where each element remains visible through the other.

What You'll Learn

No prior drawing experience is necessary. Suzanne will discuss fundamental drawing strategies, keeping class focused on the fundamentals of form and becoming familiar with the material through working exclusively in black powder. Topics include creating form using light and shadow; visualizing the face in planes of shadow, midtone, and highlight; techniques for achieving realism in features like eyes; and compositional strategies for designing foreground and background.

• Drawing with Glass Powder: Explore the versatility of black glass powder and how it can be applied with control and intent, allowing for nuanced marks, gradients, and layered imagery.
• Image Building: Develop images gradually, using multiple applications of powder and multiple firings to build form, depth, saturation, and visual complexity.
• Tools & Techniques: Learn how specialized sifters and application methods influence line quality, texture, and precision.
• Saturation and Tone: Understand how powder density affects tone — much like shading in graphite — creating a full range of values that convey form and realistic depth of features.
• Concept to Execution: Get to know the material and tools through mark making exercises before translating your selfie into a kilnformed glass composition with clarity and intention.

Course Highlights

• Instruction in basic drawing techniques and concepts through the lens of drawing with glass powder
• Focus on black glass powder as a primary drawing medium and its ability to create a full range of tones to accurately represent form and realistic detail
• Emphasis on control, layering through multiple firings, and visual depth
• Insights into Suzanne Head's artistic process and methodology
• Designed for artists working across drawing, painting, and kilnformed glass, as well as those new to these methods

Whether you're new to drawing, glass, or both — or looking to push your practice into new conceptual and technical territory — Drawn to Glass offers a focused, inspiring approach to image-making in kilnformed glass, taught by the artist pioneering these methods.

Materials and Tools

You can preview the class Materials and Supplies List to get a sense of what you'll need to participate.

Requirements