About Liz Danby

A life based around beauty

Maker

Inspired by nature and the changing colours of the seasons, much of Liz’s work focuses on beauty and creating pieces with both textural and visual appeal. From her studio in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, Liz hones her expert skills and knowledge in the specialist techniques required for kiln firing ceramics and glass. She combines the modern – including dichroic glass, a new material developed by NASA – with the ancient thanks to the skills and techniques she applies to processes.

With commissions from across the world, Liz’s collaborations range from the Arts Council to independent boutiques and charities.

Liz is also an avid gardener in her spare time and has won local In Bloom awards for her horticultural efforts.

Educator

After achieving her first degree in Ceramic Sculpture at RMIT in Melbourne, Liz went on to study Art & Design (Leeds) and 3D Design (Manchester). Becoming a qualified teacher in 1997 enabled her to pass on both her love of art and craft and her understanding of design concepts. She runs ceramics courses at Hive in Shipley as well as offering educational content online and talking listeners through processes on BBC Radio Leeds.

Champion of the arts

Viewing life as a journey of exploration, Liz believes art is inextricably bound up with social history and seeks to preserve artistic skills and training for future generations. She does this through her educational roles and has arranged an exhibition in 2025 to highlight the importance of the fight against further closure of art colleges before knowledge of certain techniques is lost forever.

Latest exhibitions

Full Circle: An International Celebration Exhibition

Wednesday 5th–Sunday 23rd February 2025

Tacit Art, 312–314 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, Victoria 3067, Australia. 

This highlight of the exhibition calendar celebrates the artistic training and skills provided by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and serves as a rallying cry to those trying to preserve such opportunities for future generations in both the UK and Australia.  

In tracking down and bringing together ten ceramics students and lecturers from the late 1980s and early 1990s, Liz intends for this exhibition to showcase the incredible work they are still producing 30 years later through careers in the arts. Work they would be unable to create without the training they received. 

For her own work, Liz has included a series of glass panels featuring the Pennine Way in this headline exhibition, transporting her stunning Yorkshire surroundings to the heart of Melbourne in Tacit Art.

This exhibition represents a personal ‘full circle’ moment for Liz. She has written more about the journey she has taken in a heartfelt tribute to her mother, Dorothy Lugg. 

Explore the exhibition

Thanks for the Memory

At the last International Festival of Glass to be held in Stourbridge, the Contemporary Glass Society celebrated previous years at the Ruskin Centre with an exhibition of glass postcards.  

Liz’s piece – Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere – was inspired by the Suffragette movement.  

Discover the artworks

Experience

You can see Liz’s full experience and a list of exhibitions in which she’s featured by downloading her full CV.