FUSE Glass Prize Finalists Announced 2024
JamFactory is thrilled to announce eighteen finalists have been selected for the 2024 FUSE Glass Prize.
The judges reviewed high quality and diverse entries from across Australia and New Zealand. The winner of the FUSE Glass Prize Established Artist Category will receive a $20,000 non-acquisitive cash prize, with the winner of the David Henshall Emerging Artist Prize receiving a $5,000 cash prize plus a professional development opportunity at JamFactory valued at $5,000.
The exhibition of finalist’s works will be shown at JamFactory from 10 May - 7 July 2024 followed by a tour to Canberra Glassworks from 8 August - 6 September 2024 and Australian Design Centre from 3 October - 13 November 2024.
The winners of the Established and Emerging Categories will be announced on 9 May 2024.
Emerging Artist Finalists
Alexandra Hirst (SA)
Leading Lines, 2024
hand blown glass, carved and fire polished
600 x 300 x 400
Alexandra Hirst is an emerging Adelaide based artist living and working on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. While obtaining her Bachelor of Visual Arts (Sculpture) from the University of New South Wales, she was exposed to glassblowing through an international exchange program and was instantly drawn to the materiality and collaborative nature of glass craft. Hirst’s work spans glassblowing, glass casting and installations, and are heavily inspired by repetitive patterns, cycles of the natural world and emotional connection. In her work, she combines the fast-paced and heated excitement of glassblowing with the slow, labour intensive and meditative task of etching and carving into glass. Hirst’s practice, which began as a reflection of her surroundings, has evolved into an aesthetic and emotive lens for the projection and reflection of her personal experience that explores themes of non-verbal expression, meditation and therapy. The transparency and optical qualities of glass makes it the perfect medium to explore these themes along with repetition and layering.
In 2019, Hirst completed her Masters in Glass at the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland, where she learned to incorporate digital technologies with traditional glassblowing and casting techniques. Her 3D printed cast glass artworks, Building Blocks, 2020 and Fractals, 2022 were finalists in the emerging artist category of the FUSE Glass Prize. Following her Masters, Hirst undertook JamFactory’s Associate Program in the Glass Studio, where she now works as a glassblower while she continues to grow her artistic practice.
“Much like the steadfast resilience of rocks shaped by the relentless force of water, we mark and mould ourselves by the currents of our environment. These lines, meticulously carved into soft, organic blown glass forms, act as tangible reminders of the unseen influences that shape our perceptions, actions, and emotional landscapes. Each line is a journey we traverse, echoing the complexity of our ever-changing landscape. Just as the glass reflects and refracts light, so too do we reflect the traces of our environment.”
Photo: Connor Patterson
Carman Skeehan (SA)
Sunday Morning, 2023
blown glass, solid glass colour, enamel paints
290 x 140 x 310
Carman Skeehan is a glass artist and maker living in Adelaide. Having completed JamFactory’s Associate Program in the Glass Studio in 2023, Skeehan has hit a milestone in her work, elevating her artistic practice. Guided by meticulous creative process, Skeehan centres her work on the art of storytelling through glass, exploring the intersection of narrative and materials. She draws inspiration from early oil painting and still life arrangements, creating a unique likeness in glass materials. Skeehan’s work is an exploration of these elements, seamlessly blending them to create unique and compelling pieces of art.
“Sunday morning challenges viewers' perceptions of reality, inviting them to explore the intersection of memory and material. It is poised to be unique, questioning the make and material of each piece, captivating audiences and redefining the boundaries of glass art. This still life transcends the conventional boundaries of blown glass art. Each piece becomes a frozen moment in time, inviting viewers to explore the relationship of memory, material and narrative, and challenging their perceptions of handmade blown glass.”
Photo: Connor Patterson
Ember Satyn (SA)
Perceptible, 2023
mould blown glass
155 x 170 x 60
Ember Satyn is an emerging contemporary visual artist living and studying on Kaurna Country. She completed her Bachelor of Contemporary Art at the University of South Australia and is currently undertaking her Honours in Creative Arts. In her practice, Satyn investigates the texture and distortion of the human form through glass. She is drawn to the intensity, physicality and unusual characteristics of glass, and integrates plaster and casting to push her explorations of the materiality of glass and the human body.
“Perceptible explores the human form, abstracting it through glass to create uncanny mildly familiar forms. These textured lifelike pieces are created through mould blowing into casts taken of the artist’s wrists. By transforming the body into a glass object and segmenting it, it can be defamiliarised. The unusual shapes and irregularities of the wrist become more visible when seen on these hollow forms. The texture of the skin pores and the lines from where the palm folds become obvious blemishes on the clear glass. Through the transparency of glass, direct replications of the human body can be turned into imperceptible unhuman objects. The translucent, luminous appearance of the glass, devoid of colour enables the pieces to maintain a ghostly, unreal quality.”
Photo: Pippy Mount
Emeirely Nucifora-Ryan (ACT)
Processed, July 2023, 2023
glass, neon, transformers.
2100 x 120 x 1500
Born on Gadigal land (Sydney) and raised on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land (Canberra), Emeirely Nucifora-Ryan completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) at the Australian National University’s School of Art and Design in 2018. In 2019, Nucifora-Ryan participated in Richard Wheater’s Neon Green Futures Masterclass at the Canberra Glassworks where she developed her passion for neon. Although her practice uses a variety of materials, Nucifora-Ryan is drawn to glass, as she finds a sense of wonder in the properties of glass through its ability to refract, reflect, and transmit light. The inert nature of glass allows it to house n
“This body of work was created over seven months. My aim was to produce a circle of bent glass every day from the time I was chosen to exhibit to the time of installation, allowing time for the tubes to be bombarded and filled with inert gas. This work allowed me to practise the skill of bending glass into a particular form, tracking my progress from April through October. A circle is understood to be the hardest shape to bend - an experience that the earliest circles I bent are testament to. Focussing on this one shape, my aim was to capture the progress of daily practice and document the reality of a working artist: the empty spaces representative of the days when life got in the way of that practice. The pure quantum of light created by the scale of the combined pieces produces a version of the Ganzfeld effect. By denying the viewer any blue light, the emitted hues can vary, causing the eye to doubt what it sees. The resulting piece Processed, July 2023 explores how process and ritual contribute as a journey does to the final destination, where a tangible sensory experience can be afforded through profound and disciplined introspection.”
Photo: Brenton McGeaChie
Hamish Donaldson (Vic)
Lazuli, 2024
blown and solid glass
180 x 180 x 54
Hamish Donaldson comes from a lineage of glass artists, with his grandparents working as glass engravers and both his parents, uncle and brother being glassblowers. He has been around glass all his life. Gaining his early training in the family’s studio before completing JamFactory’s Associate Program in the Glass Studio, Donaldson has also undergone masterclasses at the Pilchuck Glass School, USA Glass Furnace, Turkey, Canberra Glassworks and JamFactory. Donaldson is now based back on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, working in and out of the family studio, producing a range of production and art works that take inspiration from the natural world and the deeper mysteries lying within it that can remind us of our deeply connected and interwoven oneness.
“Donaldson’s work evolves through a dialogue with the natural forces underpinning life and brings forth emanations of the forces that are working beyond our perceptual field. He takes inspiration from temple structures and the lineages across the globe that use these spaces to invoke and commune with the unseen, as well as the vibratory nature of matter beyond our means of perception. Using cymatics, the study of visible sound and vibration as one way of bringing forth such unseen realities to our attention, Donaldson illuminates the beauty of the intricate patterns, depth of complexity and harmony holding our reality together.”
Photo: Kevin Gordon
Madeline Cardone (NSW)
Nero, 2024
kiln formed glass
145 x 32 x 330
Madeline Cardone lives and works on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country. She gained a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) and a Bachelor of Art History and Curatorship from the Australian National University’s School of Art and Design, Canberra in 2021. Cardone is primarily trained in glass, and engages with other mediums such as ceramic, drawing, metal, and performance. Her current trajectory explores architectural theory and phenomenology, with a particular interest in shadow, light, space, and the body. Cardone often works to develop experimental and unconventional ways of making with her materials, with an inherent sensitivity towards subtle surface and refined form.
“My work meditates on the notion of ‘glass as skin’, but is further concerned with conveying an embodied experience of space and bodily memory. I am interested in the idea of the body as a mould for space and creating a dialogue between form and spatial phenomena, an object that brings shape particularly to spatial qualities of shadow: palpitating, enveloping, ambiguous and mysterious. The work plays with sensory as well as material tensions through the use of black glass: between the tactile and intangible, lightness and weight, moment and memory, movement and stillness, the familiar and the alien, control and non-control. This connects to my current approach to kiln forming - how non-control is as uncomfortable as it is freeing.”
Photo: Bridie Mackay
Established Artist Finalists
Annette Blair (NSW)
In Stillness, 2024
blown, cold worked, enamelled and rusted glass
490 x 470 x 330
Annette Blair is a glassmaker based near Canberra, where she works of out the Canberra Glassworks as well as her home studio in Burra, New South Wales. She is a maker who has dedicated her 24 year practice to refining technical processes in order to celebrate the beauty and movement of glass as a material, while also exploring connections with people, place and the narratives of objects. With a broad skill-set, Blair also works regularly as a gaffer, fabricating glass works for other high-profile artists as well as traveling to teach glassblowing and glass painting nationally and internationally. Completing her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the Australian National University’s School of Art in 2004, Blair then relocated to Adelaide where she completed JamFactory’s Associate Program in the Glass Studio. Returning to Canberra in 2008, Blair works with a talented team of glassblowers and continues to grow her diverse practice.
“In stillness explores the residues of passing time and our connection to people and place. Referencing familiar, functional objects which are often overlooked, I celebrate their life of purpose, the quiet stories held within, and the traces left behind by people who may have lived with and used these objects. Building up layers of glass enamels and rust, I honour the imagined narratives of these objects and their decay, while further exploring the potential of the medium by utilising and expanding upon traditional glass-working techniques. I employ both control and surrender to the material when creating these works, using heat and material knowledge to engage with the work while allowing the glass to have its own voice. The malleability and permanence of the material allows me to reimagine these forms while at the same time preserve them.”
Photo: Adam McGrath
Clare Belfrage (SA)
In the Glow of Green Collection, 2023
blown glass with cane drawing, sandblasted and pumice polished
1590 x 350 x 440
Clare Belfrage has maintained a distinguished arts practice for over 35 years. Her detailed and complex glass drawings on blown glass forms reflect the high-level skill and innovative approach to her craft that makes her one of Australia's most renowned artists in this medium. Inspired by nature and its various rhythms and energies, Belfrage’s exquisite sculptural objects express her fine attention to detail, a fascination with pattern and rhythm and deep connection to the natural world.
Belfrage has received several prestigious awards including the inaugural JamFactory FUSE Glass Prize in 2016 and the Tom Malone Glass Prize, Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2005 and 2011. She was the featured artist for the 2018 SALA Festival and celebrated as one of South Australia’s most influential artists working in a craft medium through JamFactory’s ICON series, presenting a solo exhibition, A Measure of Time, for a three year national tour. Belfrage continues to exhibit extensively and is represented in major public collections throughout Australia, USA and Europe including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Corning Museum of Glass, USA, Tacoma Museum of Glass, USA, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark, Castello Sforzesco Museum, Italy and Nijima Glass Museum, Japan.
“This piece was made in response to a research period spent in the rainforests of Eastern Australia. In a dim light that glowed green, the vibrancy of surface growths and coverings, particularly moss, lichen and bark are astoundingly beautiful. It is about the layering of time, the life, death and decay, and re-generation that is ever present in the rainforest landscape. Expressing our connection to the natural world is as important as ever, but perhaps with a new kind of urgency attached. I am moved and inspired by forces in nature that are quiet and gentle, powerful and profound.”
Photo: Pippy Mount
Hannah Gason (ACT)
Shaping Light V, 2023
glass, aluminium frame, LED lighting
75 x 260 x 365
Hannah Gason is a visual artist living and working on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country. Since graduating from the Australian National University’s School of Art and Design in 2015, Gason has been working from her studio at the Canberra Glassworks. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, holding solo exhibitions at the Canberra Glassworks and Drill Hall Gallery as well as featuring work at Sydney Contemporary. Gason has also been commissioned to create large-scale works in public settings, such as an installation for the Canberra Centre to coincide with Floriade, and a painted ground mural in response to Frank Hinder's ceiling mosaic for Design Canberra. Her glass work was included in Canberra’s Enlighten Festival, in 2020, with a light projection on Parliament House. Gason’s work is housed in the Australian Parliament House Art Collection, Australian National Art Glass Collection and Australian National University Art Collection.
“My practice is an exploration of perception and space through glass, colour and light. I am interested in subtle shifts of colour, repeating patterns and contrasts between flatness and depth that occur around changes in light. I am fascinated by the materiality of glass and the way in which is interacts with light through qualities of transparency, opacity, surface texture and form. My practice has consistently explored these qualities through carefully arranged compositions, layering of glass and considered light application. Light has the unique ability to both articulate and create an illusion of space. I create works that contain tonal variations and colour contrasts that suggest subtle movement and illusions of a three-dimensional space.
The Shaping Light series features illuminated sculptures that convey an illusionary space and perspective using glass, colour and light. Kiln formed and architectural glass panels consist of geometric forms and repeating patterns that shape and hold light within the work. The circular motif is used throughout the layers and the forms gently touch and align when viewed from a single point. As viewers interact with the illuminated works, the textures and forms create a constantly shifting view of space and perspective.”
Photo: Rohan Thomson
Ian Mowbray (Vic)
Racer 502 Cirrus, 2024
glass
235 x 201 x 40
Racer 502 Cirrus is a 1.1 Replica of a paper glider designed by Dr. Yasuaki Ninomiya.
His paper gliders held the record for the longest flight in 1980.
This glass replica will fly with sufficient thrust on takeoff.
The reason for making a glass version of Dr. Yasuaki Ninomiya’s paper glider is two-fold:
One – The challenge of replicating the grace and elegance of a paper glider in glass.
Two - Understanding that the flight won’t end well.
Will the proud owner launch the glass glider into the air to see how far it will fly?
Photo: David McArthur
Kate Baker (NSW)
Untitled (André), 2024
digitally printed silver glass mirror
730 x 30 x 1100
Kate Baker is a contemporary artist whose practice merges photo, print and moving image technologies with studio glass. A PhD Candidate of the Australian National University’s School of Art and Design, her practice is based in Sydney. Baker’s work has been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally including at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, USA, Corning Museum of Glass, USA; Toyama Museum of Glass, Japan; Palm Springs Art Museum, USA and New Mexico Museum of Art, USA. Both a finalist and winner of national and international art prizes, scholarships and grants, Baker’s artworks are featured in collections globally.
“The maternal gaze embodies its own poetry of love and longing. Saturated in intimacy, the bond between mother and child transcends material reckoning. In this series, I merge the inky veil of the digital image with the reflective material of silver glass mirror to capture and abstract light. Thereby bringing into being that which is otherwise beyond vision.”
Photo: Kate Baker
Kathryn Wightman (NZ)
In-Between, 2024
screen printed glass powder on sheet, kilnformed
3000 x 150 x 1000
Kathryn Wightman's journey with glass began in 2000 during her time as a student at the University of Sunderland, England. There, she earned a Bachelor of Arts (Glass and Ceramics) in 2004 followed by a Master of Arts (Glass) in 2005. Wightman’s dedication to her craft earned her a Craft Council placement in 2006, where she contributed to establishing a creative practice. This experience fuelled her pursuit of a PhD focusing on integrating glassmaking and printmaking processes, which she completed at the University of Sunderland in 2012 with funding from the Arts Humanities Research Council in England.
Following her research, Wightman shared her expertise as a visiting lecturer at the University of Sunderland and worked as a glassmaker at the prestigious National Glass Centre in Sunderland. In 2012, she made the significant move to New Zealand, taking on the role of Glass Lecturer at the Wanganui Glass School. Since then, her artistic prowess has garnered recognition, including awards such as the Emerge Glass Prize (Gold Award), Ranamok Glass Prize (2014), Young Glass Kvadrat Prize (2017), and winning the Whanganui Arts Review in both 2018 and 2019. She Wightman became the inaugural recipient of the Patillo Project, which led to a solo showcase at the Sarjeant Gallery Whanganui.
Wightman's achievements extend to being a selected finalist in prestigious competitions such as the FUSE Glass Prize in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022, and her work has been featured in publications such as New Glass Review. Beyond her artistic endeavours, she shares her knowledge globally through workshops and lectures, contributing to multiple creative areas within the UCOL Whanganui Creative Industries.
“Wightman's current artistic focus revolves around exploring and portraying human behaviour, whether from a maternal perspective or as a member of society. Central to her work are perception, memory and emotion, which are expressed through the interplay of pattern, texture, and colour. This artistic vision finds its expression in the unique process of sifting and sintering glass powder that Wightman has developed over her career, where the decorative elements serve as a medium for conveying ideas. In this triptych, the technique of layering halftone gradients is employed to manipulate the viewer's perception of visibility. The artwork invites contemplation on contrasts and the potential within the spaces in-between, evoking a sense of emptiness brimming with possibilities.”
Photo: Michael McKeagg
Katie-Ann Houghton (ACT)
BUILT TO, 2024
blown and cut glass
1000 x 450 x 300
Katie-Ann Houghton is an artist, designer and maker who works between Canberra and Sydney. Her contemporary works are inspired by early twentieth century design and embody a decade long passion for traditional Venetian glassmaking techniques. Houghton’s design philosophy is based on the idea that the objects we use every day should engage our senses and bring us joy. Designed and handcrafted by Houghton, KAH aims to challenge the culture of mass consumption by creating work with innovative design and handmade quality. With a range designed to be both practical and functional, KAH aims to change the conventional expectations of tableware, and have us view each piece as both a piece of contemporary design and an object of use.
“BUILT TO emerged from memories of the architecture in Harajuku, Japan, with long windows that mirrored the light from the clouds. These six objects capture and distort light, and as you move around the body of work create a relationship of intrigue to the vessels. Inspired by the reflections on tall glass buildings, this work serves as a sanctuary of serenity and contemplation in a world of constant motion and noise. Light is my accomplice in the pursuit of representing the relationships happening across space, and conversations taking place between architecture, art and design. Light is brought in to play by the shapes of these objects. Like architecture itself, this work interacts with its environment, inviting viewers to contemplate the interplay of light, form and space.”
Photo: Adam McGrath
Kirstie Rea (NSW)
To flourish 6, 2024
folded glass, painted wood frame
90 x 230 x 980
As an independent artist, Kirstie Rea’s work over the past 35 years has investigated her exploration of the Australian bush environment beyond the urban fringe. At the core of this investigation lies a desire to seek an understanding of our often-tenuous connections to place. Walking in these places, seeking solitude and distance from the everyday, Rea has drawn on her photography and writing to inform her making. Recent years have seen her turn to spending considerably more time in the garden, where the delights of seasons and nature, of growing and producing, have given her as much reward as the bush walks of previous years. Inspiration from the interconnectedness within nature, alongside simple garden narratives, are embedded in recent works.
Having established her studio in 1987 following her graduation from the Australian National University’s School of Arts with a Bachelor of Arts (Visual), Rea has continued to develop her practice and become internationally recognised and respected for her works in glass. She was a lecturer in the Australian National University’s Glass Workshop from 1987-2003, and was the inaugural Creative Director at Canberra Glassworks. Teaching and mentoring have played a major role in Rea’s arts practice. She has taught in her field of kiln formed glass and cold working techniques across the world since 1987. Rea’s glass practice has been recognised by awards such as the Ausglass Honorary Life Membership Award (2009), artsACT Creative Arts Fellowship (2004), CAPO Fellow Award (2014), Canberra Glassworks Fellowship (2016), Klaus Moje Glass award and, most recently, a World Crafts Council Asia Pacific Region, Craft Master award (2024).
“Complexity and variety nourished with effort and return, a reminder of the importance for daily connections to our natural world. This work abstracts the awe and surprise that is found in nature, in the garden, things that delight and offer us a sense of wonder.”
Photo: David Paterson
Layla Walter (NZ)
Layla Dahlia, 2023
reichenbach 45% lead crystal, cast glass.
460 x 460 x 365
New Zealand born artist Layla Walter has maintained a full-time career in glass since 1998. The technical capacity in her work is due in part to fifteen years of experience working for glass casting pioneer Ann Robinson. Walter has a Bachelor of Design – 3D Glass from Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand (1994-1998), where Elizabeth McClure was her first tutor in glass. Justine Olsen, Curator of Decorative Art and Design, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa wrote: “The visual simplicity of Layla Walter’s forms belies complex conversations around New Zealand’s history, our environment and the importance of people and place”. Walter has a solo exhibition at Sabbia Gallery, Sydney, in May 2024.
Walter’s work is held in both distinguished private collections, notably those of Sir Elton John and Sir Peter Jackson, and in public institutions such as the Auckland Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa. Her work is held in museums, galleries, and cultural embassies around the world including in Australasia, Africa, Europe and USA. Walter has also been invited to teach, demonstrate, and talk about glass casting and New Zealand glass in Australia, America, Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and New Zealand. Most recently, the work Emily’s Hydrangea has been featured in FLORA, which is published by Te Papa Press. In 2019, Walter represented Aotearoa at the First International Festival of Handicrafts in Uzbekistan. Since then she has established Mahi ā Ringa - Craft New Zealand Aotearoa and is currently working with World Crafts Council Australia and is vice president of the World Crafts Council - Asia Pacific Region - South Pacific.
“Having cast glass for 30 years, this work reflects a recent jump in my technical and conceptual practice. Supported by Creative New Zealand, I worked out a way to avoid wax in the design stage, eliminating the need for wax steam out and enabling both the moulds and glass artworks to go up in scale. Moulds could now made in two parts to give greater access to the internal walls of the vessel, so I can apply pattern in a new way and introduce the human form for the first time into my work at scale. At 460 mm across and up to 45 kilograms in the casting, these are the largest I have made.
The seed to these advancements happened due to alternate thinking space and lack of studio access during the 2020 COVID lockdowns, when I utilised basic materials at hand like playdough to make body impressions. There is a surreal nature to the over-scaled flowers and allusive body parts floating on the inside of this glass bowl, which are befitting of the disjointed experience and suspension of life as usual which lockdowns provided. It took two years to test the evolution of my process. Layla Dahlia is the result and a new starting point. See videos of the making of this series on @masterworksnz.”
Photo: Fotoarte
Mel Douglas (ACT)
Overshadow I, II, III, 2024
framed glass drawing on hand rolled glass
770 x 50 x 500
Mel Douglas has worked as an independent studio artist since 2000. In 2020, Douglas was awarded her PhD from the Australian National University for practice-lead research investigating how studio glass can be understood through the aesthetics of drawing. In addition to winning the 2014 and 2020 Tom Malone Prize, a prestigious award through which a work is acquired each year into the collection of the National Gallery of Western Australia, Douglas has received several major awards including the Ranamok Glass Prize in 2002 and Glasmuseet Ebeltolft’s International Young Glass Award in 2007, as well as her selection as the Art Group Creative Fellow at the Canberra Glassworks. In 2019, Douglas’ work was the inaugural acquisition for the National Gallery of Australia’s Robert and Eugenie Bell Decorative Arts and Design Fund. Her work is held in the private collections and public institutions both nationally and internationally, including the National Gallery of Australia, Corning Museum of Glass, USA, Chrysler Museum of Art, USA and Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark.
“Objects and drawings are often thought of as two separate entities. My work explores and interweaves the creative possibilities of this liminal space, where the form is not just a support for drawing, but a three-dimensional drawing itself. Using the unique qualities of the material, and the rich potential of mark making on and with glass, I am using line as a way to inform, define and enable three-dimensional space.”
Photo: David Paterson
Nick Mount (SA)
Lean In, 2023
blown glass, cane, murrini, surface worked, charred oak base
320 x 210 x 650
Nick Mount was among the first generation of artists to be introduced to glass in Australia in the early 1970s. He went on to establish Victoria’s first private hot glass studio and subsequently developed an internationally renowned arts practice that continues to reach new levels of technical and artistic achievement today. Mount’s longevity as a leading glass artist and designer is testament to his virtuosity with the medium and intuitive ability to let it speak for itself. Founded in the historic and cultural traditions of the Venetians, inspired by the collaborative nature of studio glass and cultivated by the local and international glass community, Mount’s work tells a uniquely Australian story. It is a story of partnership and persistence, industry and innovation, experimentation and growth. In the traditions of the studio glass movement, Mount is an advocate for communal training and production. He has a reputation for being a generous mentor and regularly collaborates with a team of highly skilled glassblowers. In a career spanning almost 50 years, Mount has made a significant contribution to the development of studio glass as an artistic medium in Australia and is celebrated as a master of his craft.
“I intend my work to be recognised for its homage to the techniques of hand working in hot glass. For the value of making by hand and for the contemporary statement I can make through concentration on sculptural compositions. Lean In is a composition referencing figurative abstraction. A small vessel sits votively at the foot of a pair of supportive forms characterised by their intimacy. Positioned companionably on a charred timber plinth they wear their crests as a symbol of serenity and dignity, shining for the makers and their cultural history.”
Photo: Pippy Mount
Tom Moore ( SA)
Dandy Lion among the Antipodes. (Handsome Duckling, Sweet Boots, Quadravian Cyclops, Dandy Lion & Kohl Canary), 2022 & 2023
glass, silver leaf and HXTAL epoxy to attach the stoppers to the bottle toppers
1300 x 230 x 405
Tom Moore is a glass artist based in Adelaide. His time is divided between working within the hot glass community at JamFactory, from his own home studio and at the University of South Australia as an Adjunct Research Fellow, where he is undertaking practical investigations in glass focusing on hybrid life-forms, humour and the anthropocene. Moore’s work has been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Gallery Of Modern Art, Brisbane, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. He was the focus of JamFactory’s ICON series in 2020, which was celebrated through a major national touring exhibition, Abundant Wonder, and has received a number of awards for his glass artworks.
“This group of glass characters are the result of continued exploration into representational blown glass. They are influenced to varying degrees by vessel-making traditions, making particular reference to historical figurative bottles. Two of the five are theoretically usable as containers, though intentionally impractical, ludicrously delicate and not dishwasher safe. The others, though partially hollow, depart from the utilitarian vessel altogether. They continue to function as mischievous ornaments that might provoke curiosity about the cultural legacy of craft processes. These objects demonstrate respect for and dedication to ancient decorative techniques developed in Venice. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn and practice these methods and am conscious of how lucky and unlikely it is to be working in this way on this land. The antipodean nature of glassmaking in this country is central to the reason that I make characters with their legs in the air. Of course, I also find them delightful companions.”
Photo: Grant Hancock