Hot Glass
Explore the excitement of hot glass. Have you ever been fascinated as you watch a glass blower work with molten glass to bring incredible objects to life? Have you ever wondered what it is like to work with glass in its molten form at over 1100 degrees Centigrade?
This elective is a the second only of its kind to be offered in our brand new Hot Glass Studio here in Poatina, so you'll be making history as you learn to work with the glass in its molten honey-like state.
You will pour hot glass into moulds, learn the basics of glass blowing, and perhaps make a marble and more. Depending on the interest of participants we can also work with glass beads and do some torch work. For people interested in sculptural forms, making objects or for anyone just plain interested! Its hot, amazing, exciting, absorbing, challenging... Keith will open the doors of the new glass facilities at Poatina and will guide us through the techniques of working with glass in this molten form. Merinda will share her passion for all things glass and help you express youself with glass as your medium.
This elective assumes no previous experience and is designed to give beginners a good foundation from which to build their skills. Take the adventure and get to understand how hot glass behaves and how to work with others to bring simple items such as solid paper weights, sand-cast sculptures and simple blown vessels to life.
Please note that this elective attracts an extra cost of $350 per particpant to cover the cost of materials and gas.
Keith Dougall
Keith is one of Tasmania’s premier glass artists and leads Fusion’s Arts Colony in Poatina.
Artist Statement: “My work with glass has always sought to bring a spiritual dimension to light, at first through an attraction to water in which I saw the glass as a wonderfully slow moving kind of water that allowed me to capture a moment or a gesture that might convey something transcendent. I also loved the possibility of using glass to create emotive symbols of pure or mixed colour. As time has moved on I have discovered that both process and community are also important to me, and I have begun to discover why much of my work creates repetitive elements such as canes, threads, seeds or bricks and brings them together to create something greater than the sum of their parts.
My real passion is to create art for actual spaces and communities – in other words commissioned works that allow me to know and work with the audience to a greater extent than in a gallery setting and craft some apt kind of gift that might inspire the better part of them to become more alive.”
Artist Profile: Keith began his training at the Glass Workshop of the Canberra School of Art, ANU, in 1992. He studied under the late Stephen Procter and also worked as an assistant to Klaus Moje, receiving his BA (Visual) with Honours in 1996. Subsequently Keith was awarded a NEIS grant to establish his studio ‘Shadowglass’ in Canberra where he produced a number of major architectural works for Canberra buildings and a range of works for exhibition nationally and overseas. These included his trademark ‘Glass Weavings’ which utilised Maori textile techniques to fabricate hand-pulled and slumped glass canes into innovative hangings with unique optical qualities. Keith also worked with the canes he created in the kiln to produce a range of fused and slumped works.
In 2001 he was awarded a scholarship and Australia Council grant to attend Pilchuck Glass School, USA, where he utilised sand casting techniques for new architectural glass installations exploring themes of spirituality and community. On return to Australia Keith’s studio was destroyed in the Canberra bushfires whereupon he moved his practice to Poatina, Tasmania and completed further study in Youth and Community Work. In 2003-2005 he was engaged to design and create the Poatina Monument, a massive community project of almost 2 tons of kiln-cast recycled glass, with water and landscapes occupying an area of 400 sq/m. Keith continues his practice in Poatina where he directs the Poatina Artist Colony and is currently working to establish a community arts centre and hot glass facility.
Poatina Monument, Poatina Village, Tasmania – Arial view with inset of glass fountains at night. The monument occupies an area of approximately 400 sq/m and the tallest tower is over 3m tall, and was a community project involving over 100 residents.
Restore Our Fortunes – an installation of sand-cast glass seeds, scorched earth and charcoal text created for Inscape - Impressions of the Fire, an exhibition of artists affected by the 2003 Canberra bushfires. (Pictured with detail.)
Merinda Young
Merinda is a professional glass designer maker based in southernTasmania www.trglass.com.au
Merinda has worked with glass for over 20 years. Originally starting as a stained glass artist, Merinda has extended her interests to include fused and cast glass, painted glass, bead making and torch work with somedabbling in the hot glass studio. Merinda has studied with many amazing artists from around the world both in Australia and the USA.
She has a passion to see people indulge their natural creativity and explore the fascinating medium of glass, teaching Adult Education classes, school and university students, and professional workshops. Her architectural glass work can be found in schools churches and hundreds ofhomes in Tasmania.
Merinda loves to share a cuppa and a chat. Little kids send her tragically gooey – The child in her is very strong and Merinda believes a chat and a laugh together over a cuppa and chocolate, are the best things in life.