Exemplar Glass produces contemporary art glass items, designed and hand crafted by Jane Ballard.

Individual pieces can be purchased from those presented on this website or, for that special occasion, commission an unique item.

Every product consists of two or more layers of glass kiln fired two or three times to achieve the desired texture and shape.

We have several kilns and other equipment to provide the best facilities for our smallest jewellery to large panels.

Our designs change and develop, ensuring your purchase is individual. As each item is hand crafted and kiln formed from coloured art glass it will be unique.

Jane Ballard

Jane has lived in many locations in four countries and her inspiration comes from those diverse landscapes, architecture and cultures.

Her art education started with sculpture and drawing, however, whilst living in New England, Jane trained in stained glass techniques with Boston artist, Carolyn Stock.

On returning to the UK, interest in her work grew through commissions and gallery sales.
In 2002, Jane came to Leominster and set up an art glass studio where her passion for glass could develop - to broaden her experience she has undertaken several master classes with international glass artist Jayne Persico - known for her innovative techniques.
She has studied lampworking with Barbara Mason to produce glass beads; also silver work techniques to add a further dimension to her warm glass jewellery.

Jane is influenced by the precise geometric control of Klaus Moje, the artist credited with the strip method of fusing; Steve Immerman who practises a more organic variation of that theme; Bob Leatherbarrow, the “crackle” technique king. On the stained glass side, Frank Lloyd Wright’s beautiful, symmetric styles never fail to amaze.

Kerry Williams

Hailing from sunny Neath, a moderate sized market town near Swansea, dating from the time when the Romans were busy making themselves a nuisance, Kerry first took an interest in stained glass as a ten year old reluctantly being dragged around the great (and not so great) churches and cathedrals of Wales, Devon, Kent and the Welsh Marches. With typical Welsh caution it was to be another twenty-seven years before anything actually got done about it. Best not to rush into things.

Mostly self taught, Kerry started out exploring glass by learning to make lampshades in the Tiffany style. Many commissions for lamps followed, culminating in a 28" diameter Tiffany Peony pendant shade, commissioned for the kitchen of a self-build house project. Containing 650 pieces of glass, that lamp actually took longer to make than the house took to build. By this time I had decided I was probably OK at making lampshades!

Moving on to windows, door panels, autonomous window hangings and mosaic was a source of intense relief after the monster Peony and many examples of these are now dotted around the surrounding towns. Some have even made it as far away as Scotland, Ireland and France. More recently, the portfolio has expanded to include fusing, glass applique, kiln forming, kiln casting and fused glass jewellery.

Along the way, two years of evening classes at the prestigious Swansea Institute, now The Welsh School of Architectural Glass, gave me a City & Guilds qualification in Architectural Stained Glass Fabrication and Design.

Inspiration has come from many sources, the lamps and windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany, the glorious pre-Raphaelite inspired windows of Edward Burne-Jones, the ceramic tile designs of William de Morgan, the crisp geometric control and minimalist use of colour of Frank Lloyd Wright, the explosive energy of Marc Chagall and the undulating and sinuous Celtic knot work and zoomorphic designs appearing in medieval illuminated manuscripts and the occasional odd lumps of stone dotted about Wales.