Glasshouse

Garden of Stories

Holly Grace, Billy cans

Explore the magical world of glass, where sand is transformed into a spectrum of shimmering colour.

Holly Grace reflects on her love for the medium:

“For me glass was definitely a case of love at first sight. I remember thinking how beautiful it was and how it magically interacted with light. As much as it can endlessly torment me with its fickle and unpredictable nature. I am always captivated and never bored working with a material that can take any form and be anything I desire to make.”

Kate Baker ✿ Difficult knowledge - Our December laurel goes to Kate Baker for an installation in Shanghai combining animation and glass reflecting the anxieties of children.
Makers’ Tale: Craft, light and sound in a sacred space - Loucia Manopoulou writes about an exhibition of contemporary craft in Salisbury Cathedral.
Mike Crawford ✿ Facing South - Lucy Hammonds recounts her journey to the southern islands with glass artist Mike Crawford and what it revealed of a whenua (land) remote from human control.
Walking light: A bush journey suspended in glass - Holly Grace wanders through the Australian bush that inspires her enchanting glass works.
Jessica Murtagh ✿ Ancient Athens at the checkout - Jessica Murtagh is awarded the February laurel for an exquisite glass vessel that depicts a supermarket checkout in the form of an ancient Athenian amphora. 
Beyond the screen: Glass bodies in making - Nadège Desgenétez guides us through the alchemic journey of her work in glass, reflecting a deep connectedness to the world beyond the screen.
A copper glass engraving wheel: The quest for the perfect tool - A chance discovery in his garden leads Peter Cummings on a quest for the perfect glass engraving tool.
Glasshouse - Explore the magical world of glass, where sand is transformed into a spectrum of shimmering colour.
Nikki Main and Sally Blake ✿ Wood wide web - Nikki Main and Sally Blake share their thoughts that have inspired a series of sublime works which delicately bind space.
Jenni Kemarre Martiniello’s Freshwater Saltwater Weave - Mel George writes about Jenni Kemarre Martiniello's glass works that transmogrify ancient fibre forms.
Glimpses through glass of worlds recently lost - Holly Grace shares the journeys that inspired her homages in glass to a disappearing world
Mel Douglas ✿ Latitude - Our September Laurel is awarded to Mel Douglas for a majestic duo of glass vessels that seamlessly capture the motion of making.
Mark Eliott ✿ Essence of Cloud - Grace Cochrane recounts the quest to extract the essence of clouds as revealed in the exhibition by glass artist Mark Eliott.
Canberra cares: The craft and design of resilience - The theme of the 2020 Canberra Design Festival reflects a growing appreciation of care in how we design and make.
Masahiro Sasaki ✿ Glass comes first - The glass artist Masahiro Sasaki follows the Japanese way of craft, or kogei, where materials comes before concept. 
Fleeting moments: Responses to Transference and Common Thread - Julie Bartholomew writes about two exhibitions that reveal the mysteries of making.
Nikau Hindin ✿ A star compass that makes history - Ngāpuhi and Te Rarawa artist Nikau Hindin created an installation Kāpehu Whetū, Star Compass at Auckland's Maritime Museum. This work uniquely draws on traditions of navigation across Moana with unfinished business from first encounters with European colonists.
Art Design Architecture: Jam Factory’s epic series of touring exhibitions - Soon after Brian Parkes started as CEO of Jam Factory in 2010, he initiated an ambitious series of touring exhibitions based on materials which have helped define Australian craft and design in the 21st century
Uzbekistan and the promise of apple trees - The glass artist Layla Walter anticipates her travel to Uzbekistan, evoking memories of a childhood garden
Holly Grace ✿ The Shangri-La of the Jagungal Wilderness - Holly Grace's latest show introduces a theatrical background giving expression to the historical context that underpins her work.
Jarred Wright ✿ Blowing up science - Artisan, Brisbane, has recently been exploring the creative craft dimension of industry. A new exhibition features the artistic output of a scientific glassblower. 
NOT 不 ✿ TV screen Buddha - Michael Fitzgerald writes about about the work of 不 NOT cast from old TV screens as a way of seeing the future through today's ruins.
The Hayman jug - The Hayman jug is a craft classic that comes from the Sydney workshop of Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott. We glimpse the making behind the iconic wedding present and discover its greatest fan who inspired it. 
Why you should drink saké hot - Masahiro and Yumi Takahashi present their projects Sakenet and Dear Plastic that export a hightenned Japanese sensibility to the other side of the world.
From Venice to Kyoto: Glass reflections of obi under the moonlight - Shoko Aono presents a poetic collaboration of Kyoto obi merchant, Kondaya Genbey, and Venetian glass artist Laura de Santillana
What we can learn from Zapotec culture - Garland in Oaxaca was a chance for us to learn more about the Zapotec values that underlined their mesmerising crafts, and particularly its place in the world today.
A glass bridge across the Pacific - Inspired by Adelaide's JamFactory, Diego Vides Borrell establishes an international glass studio in Oaxaca.
The art of saving seals: April Surgent’s glass etchings - Charles Littnan writes about April Surgent's glass etchings, dedicated to the marine life discovered during her research in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Midori Tsukada’s oceanic glass - Ocean Depths: Glass works by Midori Tsukada features verdant work in a combination of glass and copper. Shoko Aono shares her thoughts about the series.
Alistair Rowe’s Chandni Chowk: One Altered Move - Andrew Varano maps the influence of Old Delhi on the grided glass sculptures of Alistair Rowe
From glass beads to smoke water: Investigating the vocabulary of loss and renewal in the landscapes of the Yilgarn Craton - In seeking to draw the landscape of Yilgarn Craton, Greg Pryor discovers mysteries of reflected light in Western Australia.
Rosslynd Piggott’s glass in Venice until 3 December - On view the experimental work by Australian artist Rosslynd Piggott who learned secrets of glass art from engraver master Maurizio Vidal
Mirror/ in vapour: Glass in Venice - Rosslynd Piggott travels to Murano, Venice, to work with specialist glass engravers who help her achieve a tangible ethereality.
Workshop of the World: 1000 Degrees - 1000 Degrees is a glass studio in Melbourne that shares its ten rules of working together, includine "Coffee in the am and homebrew in the pm."
What in flame-ation! - For Eliott, his flame-worked animations express the spirit and energy that he finds in glass.
Shelter for the solitary traveller - Holly Grace extraordinary glass works feature the iconic Australian billy can form on which are sandblasted photographic images of the bush. Holly tells us how her time in Denmark, helped her appreciate the importance of light in the Australian landscape.
Aesthetics in a time of emergency - An exhibition at Craft ACT (Canberra) included glass makers who explored an idea surrounding a current 'state of emergency' that impacts the individual and society collectively such as nuclear disasters and climate change issues. Simon Gregg considers the roles of aesthetics and beauty in reflecting on an ethical crisis.
The Kink - The Kink has become a craft classic. The continuing success of this oil bottle supports a micro-industry of glass-blowing. What are its origins? How is it made? Who uses it? In the first of a series, we discovery the mysterious origin of the kink.
Gate 8 - Rule #2 - Like both kinds of music and be open to the other. In the first of a series about Workshops of the World, we look inside one of Adelaide's most productive workshops. What are the ten rules that help maintain order in their creative chaos?
Across space and through time: glass and its value - Valeria Florescano looks through glass to see an unfinished creative exchange between Aztecs and Spanish colonisers.

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