Adaptation
Presented by Suki & Hugh Gallery and Canberra Glassworks
Working in a new realm has opened opportunities for those willing and able to adapt. Whilst we have been tested by fire, drought, and the pandemic the overarching sentiment remains hopeful. There seems to be a sense of liberation and satisfaction that comes with accepting the now.
Ultimately, belief in tomorrow fosters endurance, resilience and gently encourages us to adapt to our changed environment. Adaptation is a salute to moving forward in whatever environment we find ourselves.
Featuring artists: Ingrid Bowen, Susie Dureau, Sharon Field, Sara Freeman, Hannah Gason, Stefan Gevers, Isobel Rayson, Harriet Schwarzrock, and Jo Victoria.
Image: Harriet Schwarzrock, of filament 2020, glass, neon, twine, steel frame. Courtesy of the artist and Suki & Hugh Gallery.
Key Info
Exhibition Dates
26 November to 20 December
Official Opening
4:00pm 26 November
View CatalogueSmoke & Mirrors - Simon Maberley
Held at a time when the growing effects of economic crisis are intersecting with an urgent ecological crisis, this exhibition offers the opportunity to rethink the relationship between social constructs and the environment. Based on the south coast of New South Wales, artist Simon Maberley investigates contrasting themes such as technology and climate, industry and nature and human and animal. His highly narrative artworks critique the way contemporary culture engages and deals with challenges.
In early 2020 much of the New South Wales coastline was devastated by bushfires. Living through this catastrophic series of events was unforgettable for most people who experienced it. In response, Maberley has produced a body of work which attempts to convey the effects on land and community. He is asking us to reflect on the feelings we experience after such dramatic events and to remember that from the loss comes renewal.
This thought-provoking work takes the form of super-sized, highly polished coins, although the monetary value has been removed. This changes our focus away from economics to the beauty and resilience of the animals who remain. These works ask us to think about the things that matter and how we as individuals can help to make positive change. The viewer is invited to experiences each work. No longer a flat empty surface, they become a vessel that contains our entire immediate world, giving back a distinct image of ourselves within this new world.
Something in the Air - Marie Hagerty & Peter Vandermark
As part of contour 556, Canberra Glassworks are exhibiting Something in the Air by Marie Hagerty and Peter Vandermark in the Glassworks foyer. Hagerty is primarily a painter and Vandermark a sculptor and both have established practices here in Canberra. This amusing response to COVID-19 – if there can be such a thing – consists of a series of suspended mobiles that move with the flow of the air. Unlike a solid sculpture these artworks are constantly redefining the space around them as they move, the slightest current of air allowing for a natural shifting play of forms and spatial relationships.
As the sculptor and inventor of the mobile, Alexander Calder said “To most people who look at a mobile, it’s no more than a series of flat objects that move. To a few, though, it may be poetry.”
What Hegarty and Vandermark have created is a poetic vision of simple forms and the complimentary forces of stability and movement – an unpretentious enjoyment of colour, shape and movement.
Presented by contour 556 running from 9 – 31 October 2020
Key Info
Exhibition Dates
07 October to 17 November
Official Opening
Duty of Care by Tony Albert
Tony Albert’s latest exhibition Duty of Care features all new works conceived and produced at Canberra Glassworks. Featuring stained glass windows and re-cast items of Aboriginalia, Albert reminds us that duty of care is a social contract, an obligation we all share to ensure the safety of others. In the 250th year since Captain James Cook changed the history of this continent forever, Albert urges his audiences to recognise the invisible forces that bind us and participate in urgent and necessary conversations that reckon with the past and path a way into our future together.
Tony Albert is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf.
Support for this exhibition was provided by project funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.
Image: Tony Albert, work in progress, 2020, courtesy of the artist, Sullivan + Strumpf & Canberra Glassworks
Pattern and Effect - Brendan Van Hek
Brendan Van Hek
pattern and effect is an exhibition of new and existing works that explores the relationship between surface and volume.
The works in the exhibition while utilising a variety of materials focus on glass, through neon and mirrors. They emphasise the volatility of neon and the fluidity and fragility of glass. The use of neon continues Van Hek’s longstanding engagement with the medium. Primarily through the use of neon, he explores the potential of light to talk about a range of ideas including impermanence, transition, spirituality and ephemerality.
Image: Brendan Van Hek, Turquoise and Orange, 2019, courtesy of the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
JamFactory Icon Clare Belfrage: A Measure of Time
Clare Belfrage
With a career spanning almost three decades, the multi-award winning artist has forged an international reputation for her finely detailed glass sculptures that marry organic blown forms with intricate line work. Throughout her career, Clare Belfrage has maintained a vibrant studio glass practice and is known for her distinctive artworks in which complex patterns of fine glass lines trace her forms. Inspired by the repetitious patterns found in nature and the woven lines of textiles, Belfrage is particularly drawn to the layered rhythms that mark growth, change and the passing of time in the natural world.
JamFactory ICON: Clare Belfrage: A Measure of Time is a JamFactory touring exhibition.
Image: Clare Belfrage, Quiet Shifting, Orange and Oceans, 2018, courtesy of the artist and JamFactory. Photo: Pippy Mount
Key Info
Exhibition Dates
07 November to 19 January
Official Opening
6:00pm 06 November