Honouring Cultures program brings Indigenous artists to Canberra Glassworks
Canberra Glassworks is hosting two significant Aboriginal artists in residence and facilitating a series of workshops to introduce members of the Indigenous Textiles and Glass Artists Group (ITAG) to glass making, with support from its professional teaching artists.
Brenda L Croft has taken up residence at Canberra Glassworks this week for an ACT Arts Residency, supported by artsACT, for four weeks from 4 – 29 September 2017. Brenda L Croft is from the Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra peoples from the Victoria River region of the Northern Territory of Australia, and Anglo-Australian/German/Irish/Chinese heritage. She has been involved in the Indigenous and broader contemporary arts and cultural sectors for three decades as an artist, arts administrator, curator, academic and consultant.
During her residency Brenda will be working with cultural material from her homelands, re-imagining an object that came into her custodianship during her practice-led doctoral research on significant site visits with elders and community members. She will also be undertaking R&D on other conceptual projects associated with representation, temporal spatiality and memento mori.
Canberra Glassworks is delighted to announce Yorta Yorta artist Dr Treahna Hamm as the 2017 Honouring Cultures Artist in Residence. She will be working from a dedicated studio in the Engine Room at Canberra Glassworks from 25 Sept to 7 Oct and then from 6 to 20 December 2017. She will build on skills gained while here in residence in 2015, which resulted in her creating works for the The Distant Warriors: Ka Maumahara (We Will Remember) Let Us Not Be Forgotten exhibition. While here, she aims to use a variety of techniques including etching, kiln forming and cold working. She will explore the Creation Story of dhungala, the Murray River. She will create glass shields reflecting on local history from her region through research undertaken at the NGA, NMA and ATSISIS. She also aims to create etched glass panels depicting her great, great aunty dated 1878.
ITAG artists are also currently doing a series of workshops with Canberra Glassworks professional teaching artists to gain experience in glass casting, kiln forming, hot glass blowing, flameworking and cold working. This group is led by local artists Jenni Kemarre Martiniello and Lyn Talbot who are on the Canberra Glassworks’ Honouring Cultures Advisory Group.
Artists in Residence Brenda L Croft, Dr Treahna Hamm and studio artist Jenni Kemarre Martiniello will provide information about their works during a free public event at Canberra Glassworks.
Crystal Clear: Honouring Cultures
5 – 7pm on Wednesday 27 September 2017 from the Hotshop floor at Canberra Glassworks
Canberra Glassworks will be calling for applications for the 2018 Honouring Cultures Artist in Residence program soon.
About Honouring Cultures
Honouring Cultures is a special project supported by Canberra Glassworks, initiated by the ACT Indigenous Textiles and Glass Artists Group. The project focuses on networking and exchange opportunities between Indigenous glass artists from North America, the Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. The project coordinators aim to develop a major international exhibition with touring and exchange projects in future years.
About the Honouring Cultures Artist in Residence program
The Honouring Cultures Artist in Residence 2018 will be provided with a stipend of $2,000, a travel allowance up to $2000 (if required) and access to a Canberra Glassworks Teaching Artist for up to three hours a day, five days a week for a four-week period between September and December 2018.
This program is for Australian citizens of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who are permanent residents, or artists who have been based in Australia for more than six months prior to applying.
