Mel and I are receiving an ample amount of help and support settling into our new home in Australia from friends and family. As part of these new "world headquarters", I have started to assemble a fabrication studio in the garage, begun a new body of work, and am about to be in a group show at Sabbia Gallery in Sydney later this month.
In the meantime, I have been helping an excellent Sydney based artist Warren Langley with a commission he is working on for an exposition in Shanghai. Warren is composing his large commission "Microscopia" at the Canberra Glassworks with his assistant Trent. They rolled into town with 80% of the project completed so that it will be ready to ship by early November. Below is a photo of Warren and Trent contemplating the piece and a couple shots of the textured glass components that I am helping with. I have also added a short news report about the piece.
I have just recently finished my residency at the Australian National University's glass department. The students there were accommodating and fun to be around. I used the time to get my bearings on making here in Australia and to create a couple experimental ideas. In the end, I focused on creating two versions of a single piece. These pieces are now being shown at the Canberra Glassworks gallery in an exhibit entitled "Drawn Across".
Although all of my work has an autobiographical component, I decided to create my first direct self portrait. I thought I could use the format of my Slider Seriesto best depict the emotional environment that I find myself currently in. With this self portrait, I could portray the recent transition of my life from Portland to Canberra and explore the lateral similarities. As well, I would illustrate these points to create a second piece that would be a collection of destinations along the way.
The Slider(titled "Drawn Across") shows an imagined geographical path between a water tank in Australia and the Old Town water tower in Portland. As the viewer slides the image of me across the path, the sketch I am creating/holding matches up with points along the background. It is the points where the scene and the sketch match up that have been recreated to make the second piece in the show ("25 Sketches"). To go further, the total retail cost for all the "25 Sketches" is equal to that of "Drawn Across". Also, if you were to weigh all of the sketches, they would equal the weight of the slider. Below are some process shots of the work and some images of the show.
