The familiar and the foreign in creative exchange

Canberra Glassworks is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Asialink Arts Reciprocal Resident, Chisa Kobayashi, will be opened to the public on July 18.

Chisa completed studies at ARS Toyama City Institute of Glass Art (2014 and 2012) and Tokyo International Glass Academy (2009). She exhibited at Biennale TOYAMA (2017), Art in Park Hotel Tokyo (2016), Yorozu Gallery Japan (2015) and Art Fair Toyama 2014 where she was awarded a special prize in the Art Award Glass Selection. She is the final recipient of the Asialink Creative Exchange program between Canberra Glassworks and Toyama Glass Studio, supported by Arts ACT, and has been working from the glassblowing studio in the Glassworks since mid-June.

“I’m drawn to the organic forms in nature – animals, plants and landscapes,” says Chisa. “Without touching the glass, I use the characteristics of molten glass – melting, stretching, expanding and solidifying to shape the glass to its most natural shape.”

“Once I have made these shapes, I then combine a number of them, fitting them together to make them look as if they had naturally occurred,” she explains. “The finished pieces look like something quite familiar, but they also look like something quite foreign too. I am seeking beauty when I do this, but I do not limit my work to a set image, because form can be nothing and everything at once.”

The Glass Exchange is offered under Global Project Space, an initiative of Asialink Arts and is a unique craft exchange between leading glass institutions Canberra Glassworks and Toyama Glass Studio.

The program provides an opportunity for both Australian and Japanese artists to develop their practice, actively engage with the social and cultural fabric of the region and above all, to cement relationships between Canberra Glassworks and the Toyama glass artist community. In September 2018, at the conclusion of the program, the relationship will hopefully be further developed with the exhibition of the winner and shortlisted works for the Hindmarsh Prize touring to the Toyama Glass Museum.

Media enquiries

Aimee Frodsham, Artistic Director
aimee.frodsham@canberraglassworks.com

Julie Skate, CEO
julie.skate@canberraglassworks.com