Resolution for Ned…

At last, a modicum of respect for Neddie; the memorial service is being held today…

 

Strap-on Neddie

Deep abiding interest…

Thanks to Nige for the spot…

Dan’s gun ransomed for such a princely sum! It’s wonderful to see the Kelly Gang still holds its thrall.

Story here in artdaily.

We’re ba-ack…

…from the latest episode of Tour de Force (more of that in the next post.)

We arrived home to news/snaps from Nige; confab in the Princess Day Spa (courtesy of Miss Pammy Faye)…

 

 

[Uh oh, that chin profile's getting way chunky, Megsie (the trip to Melbourne won't have helped.)  We're putting you on short rations, toot sweet. n(Ed)]

…and this little tid-bit from the NYTimes, on the subject of that well-known glassie, Picasso…

 

 

Who’d have thunk!! Check it out here. 

We predict a rash of copycatting.

Ranamok 2012…

…and the winner is…

 

 

Can’t say that we were all that keen on it – way too daggy for ours (we love her cakes and flummeries on the other hand, too yummy for words.)

It was a mixed bag as per usual; plenty of woofers interspersed with some seriously good work. It was hard to go past Evelyn Dunstan’s exquisitely delicate lost wax cast (in one)piece…

 

 

…absolutely breathtaking. She won a couple of year’s ago but deserved to pick it up again we reckon.

We were prepared to be impressed with the loop weave dilibags – as in, wow, that sheila’s come a long way, in veritable leaps and bounds – until the artist fessed up that she hadn’t actually made them, only ‘designed’ them. After all, she explained, it would take 20 years to become as good a blower as Tom. Er, quite – our very point. [And actually she ought to be able to knock them over, one would think, with an undergraduate course at the ANU. Sign up, that's our advice, if you truly think that it's your métier. n(Ed)]

No disrespect, but we were kinda shocked. This is a competition, after all. Predicated on skill and innovative technique (…supposedly).

Here’s the rest of the field, for those who haven’t seen it. Was it worth the drive…well, the jury’s still out on that one. But we did at least catch up with some of our fave peeps…

 

 

…and scored the added bonus of swinging by the Design ed 2 exhibition at the ANU School of Art Gallery. That super sexy couch by Jon Goulder alone was worth the trip…

 

 

General mugshots, design-o-rama and the evening’s glass eye candy (or not, as the case may be!!) here.

Pony Express…

This last week has brought a couple of serious treats – first a visit from Hilary, who dropped in for some quality gaol time  (no snaps, too much yakking – an oversight we’ll attempt to redress at the Ranomok on Wednesday.)

And then, in the mail…

 

 

…arrived what very well might turn out to be the glass publication of the year…

 

 

…from Debster, Leader of the Free Glass World.

This sweet little booklet is an almost poetic compilation of memories/photo montage spanning the decade and a half that represents the sum of the life of one of Adelaide’s best loved indie glass studios, The Blue Pony.

 

 

What a perfect souvenir of the time and the place and the energy.

We devoured it immediately. Sooo Pony.

Never ever even faintly try-hard.

 

 

Oh how it makes one sigh for what might have been. Before love’s labour was lost in Canberra.

Before all those years of hope and vision – spent tirelessly massaging working paper after working paper through the lower duodenum of local government by the early cadre of the faithful (Lienors et al )  – were wiped out by the untimely death of Stephen and the subsequent demise of Camelot.

In contrast to the Pony, the Glassworks reads more like some phantasmogoric off-Broadway production.  Shades of Macbeth and Cuckoo’s Nest. No accommodating access studio/empathetic meeting of the minds here, more’s the pity. Just the cold bastard child of a Corning-Tecoma wannabe mentality.  The wellbeing and best interests of the majority carelessly sacrificed to the ambitions of the few.

Ah well, what can ya do?

There’s been a quiet stirring in the backwoods, we hear.

Whispers of Indie Glass Inc…

Let’s hope the plot thickens.

[Thanks Debster - we adored the book.  All class.  And it's a timely reminder of what's really important in the broader scheme of things. n(Ed)]

From Tevita…

Tevita’s been getting jiggy with some experimental new work: mucking around (to quote him) with some glass, wood, alcohol and pig’s hearts [sounds like a party at the Hideout! n(Ed)]…

 

 

Needless to say we think that all 1.5 x 3.5 metres of it is utterly fabulous.

Gotta love that Tongan spear action.

Tom does the Gong…

Officially launched this week (installed late last year) at Wollongong University, the latest Manifestation da Moore…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeez Louise, hard to pick a favourite. Maybe the four-legged spikey kingfisher (great canes)…

We loves ya, Tom.

Contemporary glass loves light, now there’s a concept!!

Thanks to Nige for a link to the announcement of the new Corning expansion…

 

 

We particularly like this quotation…”Contemporary glass loves light, especially natural light, and space,” said Tina Oldknow, the Museum’s curator of modern glass. “The new daylighting system represents a dramatic change in how contemporary works in glass are viewed, and the Museum’s monumental sculptures will have an exhibition space appropriate to their size. This is the first large-scale presentation of contemporary glass that takes advantage of natural light.”

Wagga Wagga was a pre-curser wethinks.

And before you all start carrying on about the (bleeding obvious) difference in scale, just keep in mind it’s not always about size.

Vale Jörg Schmeisser…

It was Jörg Schmeisser’s funeral in Canberra today. How sad we all are.

Our thoughts have naturally been with the family;  he really was one of Art’s true gentlemen.

 

 

[It's a shock when one of your heroes goes. We're going to miss that glowing Jörg Schmeisser 'ochre red' -  Megsie used to dye her hair precisely that colour in a gesture of serious homage. n(Ed)]

image: Jörg Schmeisser (Germany, Australia 1942– 2012)

Trees and shells, etching and aquatint, printed on ivory Hahnemühle paper

24.5 x 19.5cm  Collection of the Art Gallery of NSW

The most interesting man in Australian glass…

…according to the Yanks – and, you know, it’s a bloody hard claim to refute.

 

 

Completely forgot to post this last week (mea culpa, Nige) So you’ve missed the Lecture, alas. But for anyone booting around Pittsburgh this month, get on down to the Glass Centre.

LECTURE + SPECIAL DEMONSTRATION WEDNESDAY, MAY 30 6-8PM

Join us for a special evening with Nick Mount, one of Australia’s most accomplished and celebrated studio glass artists, on Wednesday, May 30 from 6 to 8pm. Get to know Nick and enjoy his wry Australian wit, learn more about the inspiration for his artwork, get a sneak preview of his exhibition and have an up-close opportunity to watch him create his work.
Nick is here to present a new exhibition called “10 Years of Bottles and Bobs: A Survey” that opens on Friday, June 1 and runs through July 15, 2012 at PGC.
Fast approaching his fifth decade working in the field, Nick Mount has been at the forefront of innovation and achievement in glass since the early 1970s. He was aptly named this year’s “Living Treasure: Masters of Australian Craft” by Object, the Australian Centre for Craft and Design.
We hope you’ll join us on Wednesday, May 30.

Read more about NICK MOUNT Online

Get the full drum here.