Title: Matt
Date: 2018 – 19
Size: 10 x 6 x 4 cm
Material: kiln formed black lead crystal glass
Photograph by Oliver Gross.
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Title: Ollie, Lienors, Kylie, Tim, Kurt, Steff, Stephanie and Neil.
Date: 2018 – 19
Size: 10 x 6 x 4 cm
Material: kiln formed black lead crystal glass
Photograph by David McAurthur and Oliver Gross..
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Title: Chloe and Sonia
Date: 2018 – 19
Size: 10 x 6 x 4 cm
Material: kiln formed black lead crystal glass
Photograph by David McAurthur.
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Title: Mentors
Date: 2018 – 19
Size: 10 x 6 x 4 cm
Material: kiln formed black lead crystal glass
Photograph by David McAurthur.
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Title: Four friens
Date: 2018 – 19
Size: 10 x 6 x 4 cm
Material: kiln formed black lead crystal glass
Photograph by David McAurthur.
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Title: Will
Date: 2018 – 19
Size: 10 x 6 x 4 cm
Material: kiln formed black lead crystal glass
Photograph by Oliver Gross.
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This current work is a continuation of my attraction with people, their personal histories and viewpoints.
Miniature object have always fascinated me with their refined delicate features and economy of scale. For example the Japanese Netsuke or objects in a dolls house, cameo portraits and paintings.
At this stage in my life their physical scale suits my skills and lifestyle.
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Title: Rita
Date: 2016
Size: 48 x 18 x 20 cm
Material: mould blown glass, steel
Photograph by Grant Hancock.
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Title: Craig, Exhibition View – fourtyfive downstairs gallery
Photograph by Oliver Gross.
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Exhibition View – fourtyfive downstairs gallery
Photograph by Oliver Gross.
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Title: Frankie
Date: 2016
Size: 50 x 17 x 17 cm
Material: mould blown glass, steel
Photograph by Grant Hancock.
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Title: Max & Steve
Date: 2016
Size: 18 x 75 x 18 cm
Material: mould blown glass, stainless steel
Photograph by Grant Hancock.
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Title: Craig (detail)
Date: 2016
Size: 23 x 16 x 17 cm
Material: mould blown glass, steel
Photograph by Grant Hancock.
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Title: Mustafa
Date: 2016
Size: 28 x 20 x 27 cm
Material: mould blown glass, steel
Photograph by David McArthur.
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Title: Emil
Date: 2016
Size: 50 x 50 x 18 cm
Material: mould blown glass, steel
Photograph by David McArthur.
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These portraits speak about ordinary people who do extraordinary work within our community and who make up the fabric of our community.
As recent refugee Ramazan Ali Najafi said, ‘It was my dream one day to come to Australia. The dream is gone, now it is real. Now I ask what I can do for Australia.’
Though the people behind these portraits come from diverse backgrounds with different histories and life experiences they are the glue that holds my community together. They inform my understanding and appreciation of difference and indeed inspired me to create this work entitled ‘Between Us’. These portraits tell a story of our place.
Initially sculptured in clay, each portrait weighed about 12 kg but when transformed into glass, it weighs less than 3kg, measures 22 cm in diameter and is translucent.
The artistic work created is but a reflection and interpretation by me, an outsider’s view. These people have been so kind and generous with their time and our conversations have been enriching and entertaining.
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Title: Steve
Date: 2013
Size: 12 x 8 x 8 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
Photograph by David McArthur.
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Title: Aaron Freeman
Date: 2013
Size: 12 x 8 x 8 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
Photograph by David McArthur.
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Title: untitled
Date: 2013
Size: 12 x 8 x 8 cm
Material: kiln cast glass
Photograph by Ede Horton.
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Title: Christina
Date: 2013
Size: 12 x 8 x 8 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
Photograph by David McArthur.
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Title: Blue Woman
Date: 2014
Size: 36 x 28 x 17 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
I have focused on a portrait of a person in a moment of contemplation; capturing that most elusive and mysterious moment that passes beyond our experience of time.
Photograph by David McArthur.
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Title: Window Gazing
Date: 2014
Size: 24 x 15 x 15 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
Photograph by Ede Horton.
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Title: Arte
Date: 2013
Size: 12 x 8 x 8 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
Photograph by David McArthur.
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Title: Talia
Date: 2014
Size: 36 x 28 x 17 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
Photograph by David McArthur.
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Title: Masked Ball
Date: 2014-08-28
Size: 28 x 11 x 22 cm
Material: kiln cast glass, wax, pencil, metal
Each day over a period of six months I have created a wax mask. Letting the unconscious making dictate the form. I’ve always been fascinated by the way different cultures express their identity, rituals and hold onto memories through this practise.
Photograph by Ede Horton
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Title: Rita Levi Montalcini
Date: 2013
Size: 12 x 8 x 8 cm
Material: kiln cast glass and metal
An obituary in the local paper highlighted the life of Rita Levi Montalcini who died at the age of 103. I was captivated by her dignity, intelligence and longevity and could think of no better way to explore the ageing process than through the life of this remarkable woman, 1909 – 2012.
Photograph by David McArthur.
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The innate desire to portray the complexities of the human condition is the driver that motivates me to strive for a portrait that reflects each individual’s character. Within the fragile medium of glass, this essence evolves by a paring down of the form; each layer revealing its purest structure and detail, to expose the person within.
One to one sittings allow a gradual communication that yields a different dynamic to that of the snapshot exposure of a chance encounter – for example, a person on the street. As an artist, the different levels of interaction are both exciting and enticing.
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I’ve often wondered why I judge people or certain situations and then in hindsight feel troubled that my preconceived thinking is so different to the reality of the situation. Nothing is ever black and white there are always degrees of sameness, contrast and change, the grey areas ‘in between’.
When black or white glass objects are made the reflection created is always a 'shade of grey'. The colours we see are simply a degree of how much of this colour present in light is reflected and are symbolic of my impressions after a three month residency in Berlin.
The work is cast in precious white and black glass, ancient materials associated with a rich history that affirms both the strength of European tradition and its fragile presence in the face of global commodification.
All photographs by David McArthur except Gumnut Offering: Photograph by Ede Horton.
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relates to this period where I was questioning the difference between the beauty of classic form as seen in many of the museums of Berlin and the taxidermy craze sweeping Berlin's contemporary art scene at the time.
The vessel form is empty and white with innocence.
A single black shiny pearl swings from a protruding earlobe as if still undecided. This work evolved from watching the young people hanging around the train stations in the former east part of Berlin.
All photographs by David McArthur.
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The title News from Berlin emerged after a three-month studio residency at Berlin University, which I was awarded through the Karl Hofer Society.
I had last been in Europe eighteen years ago. Since then, research into my family history and about my German father had inspired my art practice. When two colleagues returned recently from Berlin and recommended the studio residency at Berlin University, I was excited by the possibility of living in this city so widely regarded as an active and progressive centre of contemporary culture.
Of the bedtime stories I remember my father telling me as a child, some were folktales passed down through the generations and some were sheer fantasy, made up on the spot. But I loved best the memories he recounted about people and places that were part of his world there - his family, the department store, and grandpa’s woollen mill. Part of my journey was to reclaim a sense of how German culture has shaped me unconsciously and instinctively.
News from Berlin became my way of corresponding and emailing home visual impressions of my experience of being in Berlin. These impressions included visiting the cultural sites and tourist attractions, experiencing the grandeur of Charlottenburg Schloss, the porcelain collection at Kopenick Schloss or travelling through the Schrebergartens to the tattooists and T-shirt stands of fashionable Prenzlauerberg and Kreuzberg.
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This work was a response to issues of power and suppression, guile and cunning, the predator and the preyed upon; all contained dilemmas that encouraged expression of this work.
Photograph by David McArthur.
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We all love to collect; by nature we are hunters and gatherers in our own ways.
Buttons are an everyday commodity. They are small, generally inexpensive and instilled with memories - that's my inspiration for why I have spent countless hours carving these common-placed objects from wax. The more I look at them, the more I have become obsessed and intrigued by their history, beauty and diversity.
My interest in crafting buttons started when I inherited her mother's button jars, and all of the memories associated with them. Like many of you, my mother's button jar was probably a source of many stories chronicling the past. She would sew and I would play with the buttons - lining them up and sorting them out by colour and shape.
I vividly recall my father’s olive green cardigan which had beautifully handcrafted leather buttons and suede elbows. He wore this cardigan around our home, and I associate good feeling with this garment. I claimed it later for myself when I was studying.
My neighbour recalls playing tiddly winks with buttons as a young boy; my girlfriend Wendy from New Zealand remembers threading them onto string; and Gregory, at age 3 or 4, remembers wearing his hand-knitted powder blue cardigan with the fish buttons.
All photographs by David McArthur.
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Sometimes when I look in the mirror I wonder: “ Is that really me?”
Charting the scope of the mind takes one to places of vulnerability in the nexus between ideas and the realisation of the work.
The historical aspects of light, mirrors and perspective especially in context with miniatures, manuscripts and portrait painting, where symbols such as crystal reflected signs of purity and truth, the convex mirror the all seeing eye, is the basis of this work.
All photographs by David McArthur.
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Humans have always needed heroes to deify or destroy, as all-powerful causes for success or as scapegoats for failure. Children are brought up on tales of warriors, outlaws, and martyrs. For many people, the word Hero, itself still evokes images of battle – images of Generals – tales of solitary heroism. More often than not though, our history is constructed on myths and stories of the ‘individual’, yet real power and the ultimate ‘hero’ is founded in community. Heroes are people who give of their lives, in honour of noble causes… working for the community.
Soft Power engages this motivation, suggesting that the fundamental role of Leadership is not about the singular, in the broad sense – Leadership enables the community. Horton believes that people, working together, have the power to make positive change to a better future through awareness, understanding and action. We lead by example; how we live our lives and how we make our journeys. These are the inspirations underlying Soft Power’s hero plate series. The 100 suspended Hero plaster plates find a common language that link ‘hero’ to ‘leader’. In turn, each of the nine gifting plates represents a quality of leadership – an essential component of the makeup of Hero. How do we engage our stories, our experiences and connect with the next generation. For Horton, Soft Power is a juxtaposition of simple forms with minimal colour that entice the voyeur into a space open in nature with clearly defined objects which express clarify, beauty and grace.
All photographs by David McArthur.
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One of the central precepts of Judaism is to remember, to hand on our stories from generation to generation – L'dor v'dor, so that nothing is lost. Yet at the same time, memory is a living thing, not static, and each generation adds its own interpretation.
I remember as a child lighting our family Hannukiah, a traditional ritual object made in Israel with a Star of David embossed on both sides.
One hot summer in our backyard, my children made their own Chunnukiah by gluing gumnuts to a brightly coloured base they had painted. Each of these objects now evokes a memory of a specials time and place.
As a maker, creating Judaica enhances and defines my own sense of identity – as an Australian, an artist, a daughter, a mother, a Jew. To bring a new voice and contemporary aesthetic to a ritual object enhances the beauty and sacredness of the ceremony.
The candlesticks and Hannukah Menorah are tactile ritual obkects which can be physically passed down through the generations. Fused into them is something less tangible: the fragility of memory and interpretation which history embellishes.
The medium I work in has its own particular characteristics. I wish to honor these qualities and at the same time create an object which develops its own narrative.
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"Glass as a material is fragile, breakable. Not very much survives as material witness to history. That which remains is precious and treasured. Ede works in cast glass. It is challenging material to work with, to mould to shape and to master. And although it is vulnerable it is weighty. It has real presence."
Light and glass are synonymous. One reflects and dances off the other.
from the Memory Works catalogue essay by Helen Light, Director, Jewish Museum of Australia 2002.
The dish is a vehicle, which symbolises the knowledge passed around the family table. Three generation of my family; my parents, my children and myself.
My parents grew up in apartments: I grew up in a home and my children live in two houses. Row 2 My parents met in Australia and planted their seeds; I have two sons and who knows if they will bear fruit. My parents wore wedding rings: I cherish the locket I was given as a child and at this time neither of my sons wore jewellery. My mother trained as a corsetiere, my brother was a businessman and my children were in school.
The black dishes with the objects represent tangible objects of our lives: The clear empty dishes the future. The more I explored my family history, the empty dishes moved.
See reviews and press releases for the exhibition. See the catalogue for this exhibition.
All photographs by Stuart Hay except for total view of Tales Of Migration by David McArthur.
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Award commissions come with their own brief. My role is to understand the outstanding work in a particular field of endeavor and honour their work within the community.
A collaborative commission with Robyne Latham for the Mary MacKillop Family Services Centre in South Melbourne.
The work speaks of 60,000 years of healthy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island families prior to colonisation.
It also addresses the hundreds of Indigenous children, many members of the Stolen Generations, who were raised in the 8 orphanages represented in the Heritage Display Area at MacKillop.
There was a synergy of energy as we worked together and a wonderful experience listening to an Aboriginal woman who is teaching me about her culture and country.
The concept of a spiral of positive, uplifting qualities entered my mental vision whilst designing this award. I have the greatest admiration for people in the caring profession. They touch our lives at times when we are raw and grieving more than when we are content.
The text encompasses some of the qualities that nurses share with their patients and visa versa. I am also aware that we first need to recognise these qualities within ourselves before we can express them with others and this is the mystery within the award.
I want the viewer to pick up the piece and look within to engage with the words.
In honour of Peter Rawlinson, the Alpine Cool-skink (Niveoscincus greeni) was chosen as a symbol to represent his life long work in the field of conservation.
All photographs by David McArthur.
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