FUSE Glass Artist Residency Recipient Announced 2021

Awarded biennially in alternate years to the prestigious FUSE Glass Prize, JamFactory’s new FUSE Glass Artist Residency aims to create significant opportunities for mid-career artists working in glass in Australia and New Zealand.

JamFactory is delighted to announce South Australian artist Alex Valero as the inaugural recipient.

The residency, valued at more than $20,000, will enable Valero to work with skilled assistants, take risks and experiment with the development of new work using hot blown glass. The Residency, which includes accommodation, studio space and living expenses, will run for 4 weeks at JamFactory in Adelaide between March and August 2021.

A further outcome of the Residency will be a solo exhibition at Carrick Hill – the iconic South Australian heritage site, due to open an impressive new, purpose-built exhibition space in November 2020.

Valero has spent the last 10 years working with glass. He graduated from the University of South Australia in 2012, completed the Associate Program at JamFactory in 2014 and was the inaugural winner of the emerging artist category of the FUSE Glass Prize in 2016. He currently works from an independent studio in the Adelaide CBD.

Valero was chosen from a competitive field of applicants by a panel of three judges – the venerated South Australian glass artist Nick Mount, the current Head of JamFactory’s Glass Studio Kristel Britcher and the Director of Carrick Hill Tony Kanellos.

The judges were impressed with Valero’s innovative and experimental approach to working with hot glass and his exploration of ideas drawn from philosophy, science and science fiction. As an early mid-career artist, the judges believed he was ideally placed to benefit substantially from the opportunities afforded by this important new residency.