 "Before the rise", Coordinates Series 2014. Photo by Rob Little. This is a quick update on some areas of activity that have occurred here and there... HERE: In December, I was included in a group show of small works at Beaver Galleries here in town. For this opportunity, I constructed a few pieces for a new series of work that I have called the Coordinate Series. I took some care in recording the method of thinking and making of these works in preparation of presenting the process at the upcoming Ausglass Conference in Adelaide this February. If you are interested in seeing the path of production for these forms, please come to the conference and check out the talk. Over December and January, Australia went into holiday mode. This gave me the available time and focus to address the overdue fabrication of some important bits of infrastructure for our studio as well as build some new additions to the Watertower Series. The finalization of these forms are awaiting the return of their metal bits from the powder coaters, but when they are complete and constructed I intend to post a small entry to share the outcomes... THERE: Besides advancing some areas here at home, there have been some small wins happening beyond the horizon. In Knoxville (at the Knoxville Museum of Art) a piece of mine (from the Bridge Series) that had been gifted in memory of a patron was finally given a new permanent home. I am excited about this placement and the ability to have a piece in their collection. If you find yourself in the area, please pay the Museum a visit. At Traver Gallery in Seattle over January, some small works from my Parcel Series were included in a group show of their gallery artists. Please check out the gallery or their website to see the works and that of their other more talented artists.
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 7:28 am or pm? It has been a busy time in and out of the studio. I have been spending most of my days over the last couple of months filling in as the Technical Officer at the ANU Glass workshop. It was a challenge and a pleasure to help out at the school. Beyond this, it is now coming up on summer down here and I have been working late (and early) in order to complete several studio projects and personal artwork. In the midst of this activity, I was awarded a generous CAPO grant (The 2014 Canberra Weekly Award) to further the ability of our studio by affording the purchase of a new tile saw. Here are some scenes of recent highlights... As for my personal work, I constructed a handful of works from two new series for SOFA Chicago 2014. This new work will be shown with Beaver Galleries and hopefully all of it will find good homes during the show. One of the new series is called the Parcel Series. These works look to connect two seemingly separate connotations of the word “parcel”. The first idea explores a “parcel” as something you would send/receive and the other refers to a specific piece of land. Upon first glance, these solid glass blocks have been fused and formed into the shape of a transparent and wrapped shipping package. The address labels of each package have been polished to clearly reveal the content of the bundle while also attempting to subtly and perceptually connect the separate physical positions of its sender/receiver with their shared view of the shipped form’s single subject. By looking into a block, a single hand drawn image of a patch of land can be seen. In particular, each block holds a scene of a liminal area of activity that would connect, expedite, deliver or drain the flow of possibilities for the places that they exist between. Here is a look at their construction and final form: The other new series that I will be sending to Chicago is called the Segment Series. The Segment Series is a look at the idea of shipping containers and the componentry of their individual and collected constructs. Each work in this series is made of separate flat fused geometric components that are made to mimic the shape and stack-ability of the common shipping container. Being glass, the interior of each component is visible and holds within it a possible scene of the container’s journey. The singular title of each work (ie. One and Four) is meant to allude to a number of possible destinations of denotation. The one title could refer to: -the number that the representative containers are in the total count of cargo, -the time of day when the scene held within each form is occurring or perhaps -the current step that each container is at in advancement towards the successful delivery of its shipment… With these few things accomplished, it is now time to enjoy the spring by getting back in the studio to complete some commissions, studio infrastructure projects and exhibition work. More soon...
 The construction of my concepts typically employs many little coordinated steps in order for each work to arrive at its desired destination. I do not always take these steps alone. The path through the production of my recent work has involved suppliers, outside studio rental, a waterjet cutter, a powder coater, a photographer and luckily a gallery to show the results of the labor.
Most times the effort given by all of these contributors is not visible in the final presentation of the pieces. To see the general steps taken to construct the Compile and Trailer series, I have added a small image library for each of their construction here. Beyond the efforts and assistance in the creation of the works, my career benefits from existing within a vibrant creative culture. This culture includes other artists and art related organizations and institutions that provide additional support and help to encourage continual creating. To this point, I would like to acknowledge the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) for the Australian Artists’ Grant they awarded me to document the works for my recent exhibition. This particular grant is a NAVA initiative, made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mrs Janet Holmes à Court and the support of the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council for the Arts.  Later this week, Netty Blair and I will have a two person show at Beaver Galleries in Canberra. We called the show "Held Within".
The two series of work that I built for the show explore the theme of "Held Within" through the role and relationship of the common shipping container to the lives and localities that it serves and affects. The first series of work is called the Trailer Series. The works from this series each have a small steel truck trailer chassis that supports a kilnformed, waterjet cut and fabricated glass box. The sides of each box have hand rendered images whose drawn contours are made to intercept each other. This alignment is made to mimic the collision and connection of the places (and their eventuating timelines) served by the movement and utilization of modern shipping methods. The second series is called the Compile Series. Each work in this series is built from a stack of small steel shipping containers forms. The compiled components of these works each form a place whose construction, development or deletion is dependent on the movement, utilization and impact of the modern shipping container.  In light of working... I have been working in many directions. I am currently "Phil-ling" in for the technical officer in the glass workshop at the Australian National University. As well, I have been continuing my pursuit of my research, doing some project management for some designer projects, work on the new studio, preparation for upcoming traveling and teaching engagements this summer and beginning to construct some new pieces. If you are interest in seeing the work, please check out the Beaver Galleries, Traver Gallery and the Blue Rain Gallery on their upcoming exhibitions. If you want to see me soon in Australia, just drop by the ANU Mon-Wed or by our new shop in Queanbeyan. If you want to catch up in America, please come to Klaus Moje's award ceremony in Seattle, the festivities at the Museum of Glass for the LINKS exhibition or between the bookshelves at Powell's Books on Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon on Sunday May 19th and most likely May 20th... Here is a few shots of my progress... It seems that SOFA Chicago has come and gone. I hear that many friends did well this year and that is always excellent and hopeful to hear. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the show, but I saw this great little update by Andew Page about the event. Luckily enough, his post mentioned my work that was shown by Beaver Galleries! Check it out here.
I had some excellent news today and found out that Craft Arts has used my image on the cover of their latest issue. This is a first for me and very exciting. There is a fantastic article written about my work by Dr. Sharon Peoples inside the magazine. Check it out:  Here is the article within...    My new show at Beaver Galleries called "Of Import" was just reviewed by Kerry-Anne Cousins of the Canberra Times! This is fantastic news and the review was quite nice as well...   I posted some pictures of my current exhibition on Facebook here. Here is a little video I made of my recent exhibition to show you all of the work installed...
My work is done and it will finally be installed tomorrow at Beaver Galleries for my solo show called "Of Import". I am anxious and nervous for the opening and to finally have this experience happen. There will be new works from the Pallet Series, the Crate Series and a new series called the Shipment Series. Here is a sneak peak of the my work (shot fantastically by Rob Little) that will be in the show...
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