kirra iluminating glass award exhibition

2014 KIRRAILLUMINATINGGLASS AWARD

Pictured front: Plexus (detail) by Bethany Wheeler

Fused glass, sheet glass, aluminium, lighting

KIRRA ILLUMINATING GLASS AWARD


Exhibition Dates 3 June 2014 to 13 July 2014

Exhibition curated by Suzanne Brett

Kirra Galleries (enter via Atrium)

Federation Square

Cnr Swanston & Flinders Streets

Melbourne, VIC 3000

Phone: +613 9639 6388

Email: [email protected]

facebook.com/KirraGalleries

@KirraGalleries

www.kirragalleries.com

Published by Kirra Australia Pty Ltd

Designed by Julien Stannus

Printed by CMYKhub™

ISBN: 978-0-646-92218-8

KIRRA ILLUMINATING GLASS AWARD


KIRRA ILLUMINATING GLASS AWARD 2014 | 5

CONTENTSForeword by Peter Kolliner OAM ......................................................... 6-7

Llewelyn Ash - Sunset Silhouette I (Steel Blue) ...................................... 8

Llewelyn Ash - Sunset Silhouette II (Gold Topaz) .................................... 9

Christine Atkins - Refraction XIV ......................................................... 10

Peter Bowles - Deep Blue ................................................................... 11

Roger Buddle - Forest Fungi ............................................................... 12

Scott Chaseling - Light Descending ..................................................... 13

Triona Cooney - A Capture Moment to the Past ..................................... 14

Giselle Courtney - Blossom ................................................................. 15

Andrew Crewes - The Sentinel ............................................................. 16

Spike Deane - Midnight Grove ............................................................. 17

Evelyn Dunstan & Gabrielle Dickens - Chasing Butterflies ...................... 18

Benjamin Edols & Kathy Elliott - Peel Lamps ....................................... 19

Kevin Gordon - Lest we forget ............................................................. 20

Kevin Gordon - Into the Blue .............................................................. 21

Holly Grace - Shelter – Horse Camp Hut .............................................. 22

Marc Grunseit - Yipwon ...................................................................... 23

Tony Hanning & Steve Stewart - Great Egret ......................................... 24

Tevita Havea - Hina ............................................................................ 25

Christopher John - Castilian Light ........................................................ 26

Miles Johnson - Ice Influrescence Illuminator ....................................... 27

Laurel Kohut - Heartthrob ................................................................... 28

Jeremy Lepisto - The Acquisition ......................................................... 29

Amanda Louden - Ixia viridiflora lamp .................................................. 30

Sabrina Martins Loulé - He changeth the times and the seasons ............ 31

James McMurtrie & Dónal Molloy-Drum - Wirrabara ............................... 32

Richard Morrell - Fragment ................................................................. 33

Nick Mount & Saxon Rudduck - Turn 3 ................................................ 34

Peter Nilsson - Anemone .................................................................... 35

Pipit Pujiastuti - Chrysalis .................................................................. 36

Waynne Rayson - Metalbug ................................................................. 37

Harriet Schwarzrock - Echo ................................................................. 38

Tim Shaw - Sunflowers ....................................................................... 39

Jason Sims - Rise and Fall II .............................................................. 40

Crystal Stubbs - Ascend ..................................................................... 41

Crystal Stubbs - Mimic ....................................................................... 42

Yusuké Takemura - Calla Lily Bouquet ................................................ 43

Lienors Torre - Digital Light ................................................................ 44

Bethany Wheeler - Plexus ................................................................... 45

Robert Wynne - Raven’s Clutch ........................................................... 46

Robert Wynne - Lotus ......................................................................... 47

Laurie Young - Medusa ....................................................................... 48

Judging Panel .............................................................................. 49-50

People’s Choice Award ....................................................................... 51

6 | KIRRA ILLUMINATING GLASS AWARD 2014

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow….

This old proverb can apply to the Kirra Illuminating Glass Award (KIGA) exhibition and to

the progress of Kirra Galleries which before its formation was just a wish.

A year ago, whilst opening Kirra Galleries Light in Winter exhibition, Kate Brennan, then

Chief Executive Officer of Fed Square Pty Ltd challenged us to partner Fed Square in an

Australian and New Zealand competition featuring light transmitting glass art. Without

realising the full extent of the effort and work involved to mount such an exhibition,

we accepted the challenge and the results are in this catalogue. When Kirra Galleries

were invited to mount the exhibition, in turn the Australian and New Zealand glass art

practitioners were challenged to produce a new genre of light emitting glass sculptures.

How they rose to the occasion for the first such competition is truly amazing.

When we decided to mount this exhibition I wrote a small introduction to a document

outlining our hopes and aspirations. I think for the introduction to this catalogue it is worth

re-printing as it explains how the past was our inspiration for the present and hopefully for

the future:

“Soon after electricity was harnessed and became freely available, in the late 1800s and more prominently in the first decades of the 1900s, European Glass Artists turned their talents towards the creating of free standing decorative lights, plafoniers and chandeliers. The period was a hot house of creativity – artists such as Emile Gallé of Nancy and René Lalique produced enormous quantities of art glass.

The period was short lived as the production processes often involved dangerous materials and were hazardous to the practitioners.

Believing that the glory years of the Art Nouveau period can be updated, modernised and re-visited, over the past 5 years Kirra Galleries have provided an annual exhibition of illuminated glass with handmade one-off pieces of contemporary Australian Art Glass.”

FOREWORD by Peter Kolliner OAM


This was our aim and in this catalogue are images of the pieces in the KIGA Competition,

the realisation of our dreams and the manifestation of the multi-faceted talents of those

practicing artists working in glass as a medium.

The pieces on exhibit and pictured in this catalogue represent the realisation of fifty

percent of the design concepts submitted, from which the judges selected the finalists.

Judging was a long and difficult process and very often the decisions which to accept and

which not to, was based on a split vote. We thank the artists whose submissions did not

make the list of finalists, and encourage them to submit their concepts for the next year’s

KIGA competition.

The KIGA concept could not have become a reality without the full blown participation and

encouragement of Kirra Galleries’ Landlords, Fed Square Pty Ltd, with whom we are proud

to partner this exhibition.

It could also not have happened without Kirra Galleries’ dedicated staff who went the extra

mile in ensuring that work of high quality was delivered intact, ready for display from all

corners of Australia and New Zealand.

Finally, I wish to thank the judges who have consented to judge the exhibition under

difficult conditions as the display could only become available to them shortly before

the opening.


Llewelyn AshSouth Australia

Sunset Silhouette I (Steel Blue)63cm x 22cm x 22cm - Hand Blown Glass, Sandblasted, Laser cut Stainless

Steel, Wooden Base

As the golden sun sinks slowly in the sky it casts light upon the landscape

creating beautiful silhouettes on the horizon. A moment in time when the birds

come home and everything becomes still. These lights capture the last light

of the day.


Llewelyn AshSouth Australia

Sunset Silhouette II (Gold Topaz)78cm x 21cm x 21cm - Hand Blown Glass, Sandblasted, Laser cut Stainless Steel, Wooden Base

As the sun lies down the landscape becomes simplified into beautiful silhouettes upon the horizon.


Christine AtkinsAustralian Capital Territory

Refraction XIV60cm x 60cm x 126cm - Glass, LED, Tint

The interaction between light, glass and water is the basis for much of my exploratory work. I am interested in highlighting the phenomena

created during the interactions between these materials while echoing phenomena found in nature. Ranging from installation to wall-

mounted sculpture, all of my work is created from the interplay of my chosen materials and ideas.

My Refraction series looks at how light refracts through water and glass in a similar way. I use LED light shone through hot sculpted glass

pieces to capture refracted light images on glass screens. The effects produced are reminiscent of micro-organisms, shells and X-ray

images. The work displays its mechanism in a simple and elegant way to demonstrate this intriguing phenomenon, while providing calming

mood lighting.

Photo credit: Greg Piper


Peter BowlesTasmania

Deep Blue27cm x 52cm x 14cm - Cast glass, polished concrete, stainless steel and controlled LED lighting.

Deep Blue is an invitation to take a look at the interior spaces of solid structures. Self-referential

(perhaps), and intrinsically motivated; the work allows me an opportunity to indulge my curiosity about

concrete as substantial matter and its interplay with cast glass creating illuminated internal spaces.


Roger BuddleSouth Australia

Forest Fungi32cmW x 23cmH x 24cmD - Glass tube, pate de verre, LED lighting and salvaged timber

Walking in dense forest during the wet winter months one often comes across fallen timber that has been colonised by fungi.

The fungi can appear quickly, sometimes overnight, and wither and die just as rapidly. In the dim environment the fungi seem to glow

with an inner light.

This work uses a salvaged piece of fallen hollow timber as a base. There are eleven fungi “growing” from the wood. The stems are

formed from etched glass tube. The caps are cast from white glass using the pate de verre method. Each stem has an internal pair of

wires providing power to a miniature white LED at the top. In addition, each stem is illuminated from below by another, separate LED

in the base.


Scott ChaselingAustralian Capital Territory

Light Descending280cmH x 120cmW x 120cmD - Glass, Light & Metal

LIGHT DESCENDING takes its name from ‘Nude descending staircase No.2’ 1912 by Marcel Duchamp. I started thinking of creating

a sculpture in 2012 as a centennial marker though it was not realised until now.

The chain links, gather, hold, reflect and refract the light, whilst cascading downward from the ceiling to flood over the floor.

This ‘lightfall’ is intended as a homage and as an independent sculpture that shows movement through form and light, which like the

painting, remains frozen in time.

Photo credit: Peter Richardson


Triona CooneyNew Zealand

A Capture Moment to the PastCamera and Box : 22.9cmL x 25.4cmH x 25.4cmW

Frame and Image : 12.7cmL x 11.5cmH x 1.3cmW - Cast glass, LED Light, Wood, Screen printed images and Perspex

My current work investigates the way in which we revisit and reflect upon memories and the tendency for us to remember certain

childhood events with inflated nostalgia and idealism. We have the tendency to romanticize certain periods or experience in our lives and

to look back on them fondly, although in reality we know that nothing is, or was, ever “Perfect”.

The present body of work “A Capture moment to the past” seeks to communicate how we explore the link between childhood memories

and the common objects we owned as children or an object relating to someone in particular. Objects can spark memories from our

surrounding and pasted activities.

Triggered by the 5 senses of memory, we can recall certain events from the past. This series of work focuses on my own memories from

childhood and what I personally remember of my grandfather and prompts viewers to reflect on their own childhood experiences.

In choosing to transfer my memories to the medium of glass, I have giving them a permanence and physical presence separate to what

exists in my mind and through this act; I am letting others see a part of me that they would never otherwise see. I use glass as my

medium as it can give the sense of fragility of childhood. My body of work continues to develop over my final year at University; I learn

new skills and address or repress memories from my childhood, which were once forgotten.

Photo credit: Neil Jones


Giselle CourtneyNew South Wales

Blossom75cmL x 70cm diameter - Light Sculpture - 2014. Materials – Lampworked borosilicate glass, lustre,

electroformed copper, aluminium, brass, stainless steel, 24ct gold plated. NEOZ Wasps and Low voltage

5w LED. 10w halogen globes. 300 VA DC transformer. All parts recyclable and replaceable.

This work fuses art and science, combining scientific practice of borosilicate lathe work and my vision of

nature and light. Pink gum blossom was the inspiration.

This light sculpture grows from my extensive research into melding glass and metal, using techniques

of the scientific glass blower in partnership with freehand bench lampworking and the alchemy of

electroforming.

New technologies in light sources such as LEDs and componentry produce complex reflections: glass,

giant fibre optics and the gold and metal surfaces dance with warm light.

Thanks to John Holmes ‘maestro’ scientific glass blower and Ethel Jagelman for her love of flowers.

Photo credit: Jon Bader


Andrew CrewesVictoria

The Sentinel113cm x 80cm - Glass - fused, painted,etched, laminated; leaded lightbox

This work depicts a fictive world unaccompanied by history and inhabited by unknown lifeforms. I like the idea that this world has

materialised from nowhere and exists with no explanation.

Photo credit: Valeriu Campan


Spike DeaneAustralian Capital Territory

Midnight Grove35-40cmD x 30cmH - Cast glass, reclaimed Australian cedar (Toona australis), gold leaf, copper, LED light fitting.

My work draws on narratives found in folk, fairy tales and myth with a focus on metamorphosis. In many stories

the grove is a liminal space in which the potential for becoming may be found. And the midnight hour is a time for

transformation. Midnight Grove asks this question… in this place and at this time, “What happens next?”


Evelyn Dunstan & Limelight DesignNew Zealand

Chasing Butterflies70cm x 17cm - Base plate: white powder coated spun aluminium and mild steel. Lost-wax kiln cast lead-crystal butterflies and creeping

convolvulus with integral cast copper conduit in flowers, and incorporating photoluminescence cast into select parts of the work (flower

tips and butterflies)

Chasing the elusive butterfly - the unobtainable... that thing we perceive is out of reach. Is it the challenge in the chase, or the desire

to achieve? This work highlights the flittering dance of the white butterfly and the threat it represents to our harvest, alongside the

conservation threats posed by the immigrant convolvulus, (that beautiful flower on the invasive vine... the conundrum that we love to

hate, and hate to love.) Through the play of controlled lighting and stored energy released as photoluminescence, I am dancing/flittering

with the elusive dream that one introduced threat to our ecology may one day represent the solution to controlling another.


Benjamin Edols & Kathy ElliottNew South Wales

Peel Lamps24cm x 14cm - Hand blown glass, carved and polished with a layer of silver leaf

The way that light plays off and passes through different surface textures and finishes has always been a conscious element in our work.

The ‘Peel’ lamp evolved from a series of bottle forms we had made that have deep carving on heavy glass and played with the light that is

captured between the surface of the glass and the bubble. They are a step towards creating a functional, beautiful light source that uses

what we know and love about glass.

Photo credit: Greg Piper


Kevin GordonWestern Australia

Lest we forget58cm x 20cm - Hand blown, triple overlaid colour, sand carved, engraved, diamond wheel cut, brush

polished, jarrah base, pyrex glass inclusion

The many men and women that helped defend our country have laid the foundation to who we are as a

nation and we should remember them all and reflect on who we are today


Kevin GordonWestern Australia

Into the Blue45cm x 18cm - Hand blown, double overlaid colour, sand carved, engraved, hand and brush polished,

jarrah base, pyrex glass inclusion

The emotional colour of blue, whilst it is colour that can be perceived as cold, unemotional and

unfriendly, it is a colour that stimulates the mind with clear thought, concentration and calmness


Holly GraceVictoria

Shelter – Horse Camp Hut16cmH x 28cmL x 16cmW - Blown glass with glass powders metal leaf surfaces and silver stain. Sand carved landscape and hut imagery.

(Including shelf with internal light).

Blurring the boundaries between the romanticism of the sublime the shadows of the Alps entwine with the man-made, and a fragile

refuge emerges.

A shelter from the realities of a foreboding and harsh environment consumes and yet is consumed by man. The interwoven landscape with

the structure of the hut is a visual metaphor for our historical and spiritual relationship with the Australian bush.

Photo credit: David McArthur - Parallax Photography


Marc GrunseitNew South Wales

Yipwon31cmW x 15cmD x 56cmH - Kiln formed glass, ground and polished edges

Stand: Painted, welded steel, self supporting frame

Lighting: Edge lit along base and back by high output, strip LED

The piece is one of a small series inspired by Spirit figures produced by the Yimam

people of the Alamblak area of New Guinea. These are carvings of hunting deities

and considered very powerful and important. I have interpreted it to represent the

seismic disruption to the lives of indigenous peoples in the battle for their lives.

I employed a visual metaphor for geological strata, dissected by a vertical element:

a drill, Western influence, the outside world. I was also just seduced by the

powerful beauty of the original carvings.


Tony Hanning & Steve Stewart Victoria

Great Egret (detail)162cmH x 90cmW - Carved Glass, Gippsland Blackwood, MDF LED lighting

Great Egret is a collaborative work between Tony Hanning (Glass) and Steve Stewart (Wood)

It is designed as an end of hallway or entrance feature and serves as a night light.

Utilising the light carrying properties of glass, the egret, (in full mating plumage) is carved

and engraved into the glass. The base of the piece features a lit carved and engraved panel

depicting the egret’s preferred food. The piece consists of two carved and engraved panels set

into handcrafted Gippsland blackwood lit by an integrated low voltage LED system.


Tevita HaveaNew South Wales

Hina50cmH x 80cmW x 50 cmD - Hot blown glass, fibreglass, nylon twine, wood

‘Hina’ is the moon goddess. The inspiration is the link between the feminine cycles and phases of the moon

Photo credit: Dylan Esguerra


Christopher JohnQueensland

Castilian Light30cm x 240cm - Laminated Glass, Faceted Jewels, LED Lights

This piece is the child of an actual building, an architectural commission I received 6 years ago, 6.5

tonnes of faceted glass measuring 5 meters x 6 meters.

Since then I have sought to recapture that shimmering wall of glass and light in a smaller sculptural work.

The technique has morphed and adapted to a more intimate scale, and now combines the play of different

glass textures, subtle tints and LED lighting. Using a glass cutting method called “grozing” juxtaposed

with undulating cut lines and flat polishing, the work refracts the light giving it a crystalline shimmer.

I have long been an admirer of the Art Deco period in interior design and architecture, so inevitably the

aesthetic of the 1920’s has informed my work with a stylized rhythm of repeated motifs and pattern.


Miles JohnsonVictoria

Ice Influrescence Illuminator80cmH x 70cmL x35cmW - Blown glass, steel frame and LED lights

Glass is a material which absorbs, illuminates, diffuses, transmits and reflects light like no other. Glass begins its life as a liquid and with

this thought in mind, my recent body of work captures this essence and concentrates on fluid forms. I have tried to work with the material

in its purest form – clear glass. Traditionally glass forms have been quite tight and rigid so I have used glass blowing techniques and skills

to make shapes fluid and off centered that appeal and delight my vision of glass. Within this piece I have tried to use simplicity of using

bubbles in glass to diffuse and create an ice like illuminated effect- freezing an intensely hot material into an ice like form.


Laurel KohutVictoria

Heartthrob126cmH x 96cmW x 18cmD - Mixed media and blown glass with LED lighting.

The necklace nestles against the skin, so close to the heart. An object to be held in the hand, pressed

to the heart, and brought to one’s lips in a moment of remembrance or devotion.

My current work is an investigation into the ways in which we form relationships with objects. I believe

that jewellery items are some of the most poignant objects that come into our lives. These objects can

become intimate, symbolic, treasured, or personal. By re-creating the aesthetic forms of jewellery in

the fragility of glass the exploration of their varied emotional significance becomes possible.

Photo credit: Andrew Barcham


Jeremy LepistoAustralian Capital Territory

The Acquisition75cmW x 50cmD x 75cmH - Mixed media (wood, glass, metal and light)

The oscillating glow that emanates from the seemingly solid shape within the sealed and slated wooden shell of The Acquisition is held

to a slow and steady rhythm. The continual cadence of the form’s inner light animates this simple shipping crate into an active agent

of delivery. The exact contents of the crate, their importance and their current condition is unknown. In accordance to its title, The

Acquisition may supply an item of desire to be obtained or perhaps this crate might hold within it a metaphoric tool that could lead to the

transference of a realization. With every ebb of its interior light, this work quietly asks for patience into the inquiry of how its conveyance

will connect and affect the agencies of both its sender and receiver.

Photo credit: Rob Little


Amanda LoudenVictoria

Ixia viridiflora lamp33.5cmH x 15.5cmD - Sandblasted glass lamp shade with Ixia viridiflora on an anodised aluminium base.

The most unusual colour of these flowers caught my attention. When I saw this base I immediately knew that Ixia

viridiflora would be a perfect match. Lighting and glass are such a terrific mix.


Sabrina Martins LouléNew South Wales

He changeth the times and the seasons40cm x 55cm x 90cm - Glass, Copper Foil

A pendant sea shell, made up of pieces of glass, joined together to shed light/warmth of our nostalgic

memories of the warmer times of summer during the cold winter season.


James McMurtrie & Dónal Molloy-Drum Victoria

Wirrabara130cmL x 30cmH x 15cmW - Blackwood Crystal, coldworked, Mild Steel, Wattle Seed, Grampians Sand.

Recently the Grampians and Wimmera regions were subjected to wild-fires, destroying and fragmenting the native flora and fauna

communities. Our land is strong and stoic, not giving into the forces of nature, but constantly adapting, bringing new life and change

to our land. This piece illustrates our interpretation of the significant changes in the environment, telling a story and representing the

timeline of processes from absolute devastation, to renewed growth and life within the natural landscape.


Richard MorrellVictoria

Fragment39cmH x 28cmW x 12cmD - Furnace cast glass, black granite, LED illumination

‘Fragment’ explores the implications of humanities relationship with our history.

Photo not available at time of publication - concept sketch shown.


Nick Mount & Saxon RudduckSouth Australia

Turn 380cmW x 63cmH x 23cmD - Composite work in blown and cold worked glass with Tasmanian Oak base and 12 V LED internal lighting.

The work is a composition of curved, translucent, tapered glass tubes (or “swoops”) with internal LED lighting. The base, constructed from

Tasmanian Oak veneered board holds the swoops in the dynamic composition, and conceals the electrical connections.

The swoops echo the vapour trails behind fast high flying aircraft. The design is of two such aircraft racing in tight formation, at high

speed, around a pylon defining the race course. The work has a dynamic and dramatic quality evoking the excitement and spiritual

freedom of flight.

Photo credit: Pippy Mount


Peter NilssonAustralian Capital Territory

Anemone150cmW x 224cmL x 30cmH - Blown and hot formed glass, steel parts and LED lighting.

When I make my sculptures/chandeliers I want them to work as a kind of exclamation mark, as well as a natural centre piece with

dissolved shapes in a room.

As usual my inspiration comes from nature when I am swimming in the Great Barrier Reef or walking in the rain forest.

I´m fascinated about how the raindrops on a tree fern leaf both absorb, reflect and transfer light, or how jellyfish and coral polyps can

glitter in the sun. These organisms can cover big areas without casting full shadows.

Photo credit: Andrew Sikorski


Pipit PujiastutiVictoria

Chrysalis50cm x 17cm x 17cm - Cameo engraved blown glass and sandstone

‘Chrysalis’ is transformation of life. I feel strong connection with this for it is expression of feelings as new arrival in Australia.


Waynne RaysonVictoria

Metalbug125cm x 80cm - Slumped, etched, painted, coated and laminated glass

My work explores the juxtaposition between organic and synthetic man-made forms.

Photo credit: Valeriu Campan


Harriet SchwarzrockAustralian Capital Territory

Echo113cmH x 107cmW x 16cmD - Wall mounted stainless steel armature, Blown and sandblasted glass,

LED strip lighting.

This assemblage of shifting hues traces a suspended horizon line. A line distorted through reflection, where

stillness belies the minute and roiling energy of light and its interaction with the elements.

I take pleasure in the molten immediacy and manipulation of the material.

Captivated by the particular rhythms and the cadence of the process of blowing glass, these individual

forms appear fluid. In aligning the components I seek to present a quiet sense of poise and balance whilst

being attentive to the rhythm & poetry of the spaces between. This work is an exploration of cycles, tracing

interconnectivity, circularity and balance.


Tim ShawSouth Australia

Sunflowers93cmH x 70cmW x 70cmD - Blown Glass, Metal and electrical components

Sunflowers is inspired by the “Still life: Vase with 12 sunflowers” by Vincent Van Gogh from his Arles series of paintings

Photo credit: Iain Bond


Jason SimsSouth Australia

Rise and Fall II101cm x 101cm x 12.5cm - Wood, reflective glass, mirror, MDF and LED lights

Part of an ongoing series exploring the potential for creating illusion through the use of mirror and lights, this new work consists of

multiple elements in which the illusion forms just one part of a more immersive composition.

As an artist I am motivated by an interest in the ways we construct meaning in our lives – how perception and choice directly impact our

reality. The illusion in my work, at least initially, prompts the viewer to wrestle with what the eyes ‘see’ and the mind ‘knows’, but it’s

not this that motivates me. I’m more interested in evoking a desire within the viewer for the illusion to conquer, at least for a moment

or two, what they know to be true, in order to reach towards something more powerful and more profound – to create without complete

disorientation something magical, indefinable and unexplainable.

Photo credit: Pippy Mount


Crystal StubbsVictoria

Ascend34cmH x 35cmW x 13cmD - Hot sculpted solid glass jelly fish in cast blocks

Within this body of work I endeavor to capture the fluidity and beauty of marine wildlife. Hot glass, as a medium, lends itself to the fluid

and natural behaviour of an object in water. I attempt to capture amazing sea creatures in a moment of weightless beauty.

Attracting the viewer’s eye to an underwater world that we don’t readily experience.


Crystal StubbsVictoria

MimicLargest piece: 36cmH x 15cmW x 18cmD - Hot sculpted bown glass octopus on blown bases.

My three octopus were inspired by a visit to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago last year and fell in love with the foyer and it’s amazing

architecture and beautifully made decorative elements. The pieces that took me the most were bronze Octopus pendant lights.

My group of lights endeavour to capture the octopus in a state of mimic. Blending into the colours beneath.


Yusuké TakemuraNew South Wales

Calla Lily Bouquet 120cm x 40cm x 40 cm (ONLY Glass piece), 173cm x 40cm x 40cm (inc wire) - Hot blown and hand carved

glass, silvering, wire, LED light.

I was inspired by the shape of the Calla Lily. It has the sense of silence in the shape of flower.


Lienors TorreVictoria

Digital Light43cmH x 11cmW x 12cmD - Solid cast glass house (lathe worked and polished), metal stand

(fabricated by John Hall), digital screen with animation. The animation shows the moving rooms and

domestic objects contained within the house and which give it, its daily routines and rhythms.

As we peer into the interior of the translucent house, moving rooms and domestic objects pass

through it. At night they softly emanate a glow much like the glow of a television in the living room.

There is an interplay between real and virtual objects as the house, acting as a lens, focuses and

distorts the transient interior space, and broadcasts its contents outward. The angle of vision into the

form dematerializes the animated image as the reflective properties of the glass form take over with

total internal reflection: the image disappears as one’s point of view is lowered. And, as the glass

affects the animation, similarly the animated image alters the glass form, permeating it with colour,

movement and a luminous glow.


Bethany WheelerVictoria

Plexus54cmL x 16cmW x 64.5cmH - Fused glass, sheet glass, aluminium, lighting

Plexus is a work that describes the creation, evolution and collaboration of a network. The work references the networks of people, objects

and actions that bind and enable our lives. Sheets of coloured glass are fused together and incised when cold, then fused and incised

until a network of patterns is created within the body of the glass. These segments are then cut and assembled into cross-sections

and fused together. These visually complex structures become an interrelated network of the original substance. This is an illuminated

multiplicity formed from the single and vice versa.


Robert WynneNew South Wales

Raven’s Clutch112cmH x 23.5cmD x 64cmW - Blown and plate glass, metal and bronze, LED light source

Raven’s clutch articulates the significance and fragility of ownership, the importance of sufficiency and the curse of

competition. Our need to stockpile is often driven by wisdom and at other times by fear, and the Raven – is it the

hoarder or the thief? Here is beauty and threat, abundance and greed, vivacity and death. And that is life.


Robert WynneNew South Wales

Lotus97cmH x 45cmD x 35cmW - Blown and solid formed glass, steel, bronze powder, LED light source

I am fascinated by the extraordinary beauty of nature. Layers of complexity resolve to elegantly simple

forms. The Lotus pod is bursting with promise, delicate and robust, intricate and singular. Light, as life,

is contained but for a moment.


Laurie YoungVictoria

Medusa50 cm x 180cm - Borosilicate Flame work, crystal and furnace blown, carved, engraved,

sandblasted

This piece was inspired by the naturalists of the 19th century, the elegance and beauty of

the Medusa Jellyfish captured in glass.


Robyn Archer AO

Robyn Archer AO is a singer ( Helpmann Award winner, Best Cabaret Performer 2013),

writer (selected speeches-Detritus-published by UWA Press), and artistic director (currently

of The Light in Winter which she created for Federation Square, Melbourne; recently

Creative Director of the Centenary of Canberra and formerly the Adelaide, Melbourne and

Ten Days on the Island festivals). Robyn isDeputy Chair of The Australia Council, patron of

numerous arts organisations and a mentor for the European Festivals Association’s Atelier.

She is an Officer of the Order of Australia, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

(France), Officer of the Crown (Belgium) and holds honorary doctorates from Flinders

University (SA), and the Universities of Sydney and Canberra. See more at the depArcher

lounge robynarcher.com.au

Kate Brennan

Kate Brennan was Chief Executive Officer Fed Square Pty Ltd 2005-2013 and was

instrumental in the founding and development of the Light in Winter and more recently has

been a driving force in establishment of the Kirra Illuminated Glass Award. Previously she

was Chief Executive Officer of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust and has been recognised

for her contributions to Melbourne’s arts life in her earlier role at the Melbourne City

Council where she played a key role in the Council’s commitment to the arts. Kate has

also had extensive involvement in a range of capital infrastructure projects including the

design and activity concepts for Federation Square. Kate is an active member of a number

of business and community organisations including the Committee for Melbourne and the

Melbourne Convention and Visitor Bureau and has been involved as a board member of

numerous arts organisations and tourism bodies, including the Australian International

Cultural Council, the Australian Arts and Entertainment Industry Association and many

more. Kate’s commitment to the arts and great public place management are well known.

Her particular interest lies in the role of cultural practice and cultural organisations in

communities and cities and she has spoken extensively on these issues around the world.

Dr Grace Cochrane AM

Now an independent curator and writer, until late 2005 Grace Cochrane was the senior

curator of Australian decorative arts and design at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

From 1988 she had a key responsibility for the development of the holdings of

contemporary Australian crafts and design. For over 35 years she has talked about the

crafts and design in lectures and at conferences and has written for a range of journals

and publications. Currently she is a board member for the Whitehouse Institute of Design,

and on the advisory boards for four international journals. She is the author of The Crafts

Movement in Australia: a History (NSW University Press, 1992), and a number of other

books and catalogues

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

JUDGING PANEL


Peter Kolliner OAM

Peter Kolliner has a Diploma in Metallurgy from the Royal Melbourne Technical College

(RMIT) and a Degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Melbourne University. Following

the sale of his metal refining business in 1990, he turned his interests towards the arts

about which he had become passionate and opened a small gallery in Southgate which

in subsequent years has developed into Kirra Galleries (of which he is a Director).

Peter has an interest in glass and has been collecting since the 1970s. He is passionate

about promoting Australian glass art and artists both nationally and internationally and he

is genuinely amazed and proud of the fact that Australia, with a population approaching

only 25 million people, can hold its own, indeed assume a leading position in the

design and production of Art Glass.

Dr Matthew Martin

Matthew Martin is Assistant Curator of International Decorative Arts and Antiquities in the

National Gallery of Victoria. Holding degrees in Byzantine archaeology, Semitic philology

and Art history, he was formerly Director of Studies at the Melbourne College of Divinity.

He has recently curated an exhibition of Jacobite glass at the NGV, “Kings over the water”

(2013). Recent publications include “Joseph Willems’ Chelsea Pietà and Eighteenth-

Century Sculptural Aesthetics”, Art Journal of the National Gallery of Victoria 52 (2013),

21-32; and “The Chelsea Pietà”, in Fire and Form: The Influence of the Baroque on

English Ceramics (London: The English Ceramic Circle, 2013).

JUDGING PANEL


PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDA People’s Choice Award will be announced on 17 June 2014.

The award is a glass sculpture which has been designed

and made by Kristin McFarlane.

Voting can be done online at www.fedsquare.com/KIGAvote

or a voting slip can be completed at Kirra Galleries in

Federation Square.

kirra iluminating glass award exhibition

Documents

sheet glass

bethany wheeler fused

kevin gordon

peter bowles deep blue

peter kolliner oam

suzanne brettkirra galleries

julien stannusprinted

gold topaz