Glass shapes artistic expressions
Glass is valued by artists for its malleability and beauty, and the works by four very different sculptors now on display in Devon House, Taikoo Place, pay tribute to the expressive nature of this medium.
Balance Beauty Bold is presented by Gaffer Studio Glass, a gallery that has recently moved from its Central location to a 4,000-square-foot warehouse space in Aberdeen.
The exhibition, which is free to the public, will be held in Quarry Bay until February 24, before moving to the Gaffer studio from March 1 to 30 to tie in with ArtWalk 2006.
Two of the artists - Holly Grace and Marcus Dillon - are Australian; the other two - Catharine Newell and Steve Klein - are from the United States.
Grace, from Perth, says nature inspires her.
'Growing up in Western Australia, where nature is a beautiful, yet harsh, reality, the dividing line between the urban and natural landscape was small and constantly changing. I gained a respect for, and fascination with, nature by watching this interaction through windows, which create a transparent division between the controlled and uncontrolled landscapes,' she said.
Her observations of nature, particularly the plant world, as well as decorative motifs predominant in 18th and 19th century glass, have prompted the stylised forms and abstract patterns found in her work. She incorporates traditional glass-blowing techniques, mould blowing and grail (engraved lines on multi-layered glass).
Klein's kiln-formed and blown glass works play with balance, literally and metaphorically. 'In everyday life, there are moments that require compromise, resolution and action to create balance,' he said.
'I am challenged by the act of balancing and this is what my work addresses. Through shapes, colours, stripes, lines, texture and the reflection of light that only glass can provide, I create situations that question this balance.'
His works, although rigid forms, seem caught in a moment of movement.
Dillon is fascinated with the spiral. Scientists have found spirals in such varied things as sea shells, the path of a bird of prey when hunting, hurricanes and galaxies. 'Throughout my investigations, the idea of energy and growth seems consistently to be connected with the spiral,' he said.
He uses a lengthy process of heating layered bubbles of colour, stretching the molten block, cutting it cross-sectionally and laying the tiles side by side. These are reheated and blown into their final form. The glass is then cold-worked and wheelcut - polished, sandblasted and acid-etched. This gives the works their areas of shadow and glow.
