weddin' set

Complete!

Here are some snaps of the finished set I spoke of earlier this month. It's 8 wine glasses, 4 champagne glasses, 4 sherry glasses, 6 tumblers and a carafe.

It arrived in Sydney last week just two days before the wedding and as far as I know, was well recieved.

I also sent 2 boxes to The Guild Shop in Toronto, Ontario. They were scouting around on the Glass Art Association of Canada website and saw some of my work and asked me to be part of a glass feature in their gallery in May.. It was the first time anyone had sought me out to exhibit work so I couldn't say no.. even though it cost several pretty pennies to ship over there.. the box is in hong kong right now and i will be very relieved when it arrives safe at the end of the week...

I am heading to a mates studio in the town of Warnambool on the great ocean road this friday... hes got a studio and is hiring me to help him make a full table set based on a 17th century 'bishops table'

Its 2 weeks work, I will miss my sweet Monica... she's gonna hold down our Adelaide fort and continue getting ready for us to visit in Canada in June.

thats all for now,

a pickle under a palm tree!

These are a set of Tangent Bottles that were Machine Made By Hand for the Generate exhibition in Dec. 2010. alabaster with clear, grey with black, clear with white.

Sweet.

Momz' really likes these and it looks like they might go back to Canada after all!
This is by far the coolest thing we own. Our most recent art acquisition, a thing by Tom Moore.

Also, i was just about to post new photos of a full set of cups but they are a wedding gift to be given later this month. And, although the internet is a huge place, its not that huge! i can't take the chance of spoiling the surprise. I'll post them at the end of the month... :(

there is boats of other stuff on,

-currently assisting in the glass studio more than ever with more artists, its awesome.

-got a new business card

-Formocentric opening Wed. 6th

-made some sweet new marble designs. Marble Merchants blog coming soon- for now find us on facebook

-Marble Merchants will be at the Barossa Living Vintage Festival later this month. slangin' marbles, t-shirts, and rad marble goblets.

-preparing to go to Canberra Glassworks in August for 6 week residency.

-currently have 15 bowls on order

-new gallery in Prospect, SA to stock work soon

-new gallery in Syndey, NSW to stock work soon

-have been invited to exhibit work at The Guild Shop in Toronto, Canada for glass feature in May (first invitation to exhibit, tick!)

the machine is definitely alive.

Formocentric!

Its alive! Today I set up the show, finally! Nothing broke and the work is all shined up and locked under glass cases. Looks swish, I reckon. There are only six collections which I initially thought was too few but the work is well spaced out and I figure that is better than a cramped cluster fuck. y' know?
These guys are called 'Estonian Totems' Kind of a hybrid of the notion of 'heritage' as it pertains to my Canadian and Estonian lineage. They are assembled from 3 separate pieces and stand about 52-56cm tall.
This piece is titled 'Tangy'-Simply driven by its ultra offensive citrus colour, lemon yellow, It's the punchiest set of the bunch.
'Hollywood' Once this collection was complete, it just struck me as a grouping that represented substance abuse, usage, and vanity. I broke the flute shaped goblet the day after this photo was taken (it was the weakest link anyway.. the glass gods wanted it.. and sometimes its good to make a sacrifice) so it has been replaced by a black 'Axis bowl' similar to the bowl from the 'Tangy' collection. ...Hopefully some rich movie star buys it..
This set is called 'Eclipse'. It was made for the Generate exhibition at the end of 2010. I feel it fits the bill for this body of work and though it is not part of the 'Formocentric' show, it belongs in this post as it is from the same family of thought.. The idea behind its title is has to do with the relationship between clear and black. Clear and black are the same but opposite. Black is, in a way, void of colour. As is clear. However, they are visually opposite from a tangent perspective. I had pondered this relationship for months and one day it just hit me that the binary between black and clear is parallel to the concept of an eclipse. An eclipse is an instance where light becomes dark and opposites align. Furthermore if you visualise these 3 forms from overhead, they kind of undulate and have an ocular, halo type appearance where the sections of black and clear cleave together and do very much cross over one another in an eclipse type fashion.

'Eclipse' ........bam!

I will post some photos from the opening next week.

Well thats the show folks.. the 'machine made by hand' ethos is intact and for the first time i have developed a cohesive body of work that directly emits my style; presented by the earths original synthetic, glass.

Formocentric

Chameleons, 2010.

This trio was made for Generate 2010, the Jamfactory associate end of year exhibition.

the idea is that clear glass is amazing because it can adopt and transmit the colours that surround it. kinda like a chameleon, get it?

the time has come.

i know, i know it has been like ages since my last post, I'm a pathetic bloggist but we're gonna change that! I promise to keep posting as much as i can from here on out.. i hope i can get some crew on board following this thing again and hopefully keep my practice updated on line all the time cause thats what all the cool kids are doing. right!?

This is 'Futurenaissance'.

This piece was started about a year ago and i have been fine tuning the shapes and the title since then in preparation for my first solo show, 'Formocentric' which is going up next week!

Yea I like making up words, thats one of the perks of my profession, its allowed Ha!

I have been saving this photo until now and I just got some more photos done yesterday so they will be up wedz or thurzday. Then you can see almost the entire show in pro photos right here on the e-web!

shaped up, shipped out

First, a couple snaps from my home life.

Cute.
In house gallery- A swish Ikea cabinet dedicated to an ever evolving exhibition of my work in our lounge room.

I finished a job last week; 14 custom cups with boxes to fit.. It was a quick turnaround, I accepted the task, made the objects and got the boxes complete and delivered in less than a month. Thats a triumph considering it took me about 25 attempts to get 14 aces. On the whole it was a success. Check em out.

round trip

just completed a round trip to beautiful Corny Point on Yorke Peninsula

Round Trip, in Calgary.

plenty of mechanics

Mmmkay. So, it's been some time since I've posted a proper update and 'things' are currently gathering in my life, rapidly.

I am 3 months away from finishing my associate gig at the Jam glass studio and its fucking gruelling!.. My hands are sore, elbows, wrists, shoulders, eyes and my brain as well..

The seemingly infinite battery cell this machine began with, is fading. But, not to worry, I will happily push 'til the end as this is a once in a lifetime marathon-like experience not to be finished lethargically.

First, the end of year show, 'Generate', is coming up in December and I need to have the work finished for photography by mid October.. It's moving along fine, I am working on two trio sets. One, a set of 3 clear conical forms with coloured bases and secondly, a set of black and clear forms that look real traditional-like but are actually more informed by proportional relationships, opposing curvature and geometry (about %60 complete on these bodies of work). Photos will be posted as soon as I get 'em. Stay tuned.

Next, I'm applying to the New Glass Review for the second time. NGR is an annual publication made by the corning museum of glass in New York. Last year I submitted my Axis bowls, which I am proud of (they are the ones that are cut and polished on an angle with the half opaque- half coiled technique,.. sweet) but I don't think the image was up to snuff nor were they 'mindblowing' enough to impress such an esteemed jury. This year I am submitting 3 separate works, all trios, all focused on my coiled technique. The images for this years submission are much more coherent as a body of work and are the 3 best quality photos I have ever had taken. Perhaps it is a vain endeavour but I would really like to be selected this year.. It would be huge for my mindset, and just excellent publicity for my work. Fingers crossed..

Next, several months ago my friend Katherine asked me if I would be interested in sending some work home to Canada to have an exhibition in Calgary which would highlight Canadian glass artists who've been to Australia to study or work in glass. Of course, I said 'YES!'. From there on it has come to fruition and thus the 'Round Trip' exhibition will open in Eau claire market in Calgary this Wednesday night. Check it out if you're in that part of the universe. Very happy to be showing some work as I haven't done enough of that yet.. hmmm?

Next, although I have been pondering Art with a capital 'A' a lot, I have also designed a new product in recent times. Here it is.. the skittle bowl?, the psychedelic storm cloud bowl? Haven't decided on a title yet.. input welcome.

What else.....?

I have a job on right now to make 14 goblets for a mates dad. They are to be given as gifts to departing board members of his company and,.. they are to be given next Friday,.. with boxes to fit.. 8 are made, boxes are being ordered tomorrow.. wish me luck with that one.... shit balls.

I am also commencing on building an empire made of marbles with my good friend Dani. We are the Marble Merchants and that shit is gonna be sick..That front will get more exciting in a couple months, I'll keep ya 'posted'.. k?

And last but certainly not least, my social life has changed considerably in the last year. I have met the stunning beauty, Monica Robinson, and we are gettin' on like soy sauce on fried eggs.

She works for the SA Government in the Department of Transport Energy and Infrastructure. We live together in Prospect which is located just outside of Adelaide CBD where we have an excellent and rapidly multiplying glass collection. In addition, Monicas' uber cute baby daughter Lili, 2, stays with us a week on and off and is adding a whole new lens to my perspective. It's amazing what life serves you, how the mind is so plastic in its ability to add new things that were not expected but enjoy them and learn from them just the same.

In summary , we are both enjoying ourselves immensely as we learn this new domestic mode which is a pleasant surprise for both of us.. it's pretty darn cute 'round here.

Wow, that is a mouthful and a mind-ful, spilled on the page.. hope yous all have enjoyed this in depth cross section of the machines ongoing and ever morphing functions.