Patricia's residency has been a lot of fun for me. Meeting her, learning more about her work and seeing ideas emerge and form. Patricia has been working with a number of artists at the Canberra Glassworks as we try various techniques to realise her ideas.
The Skywhales went up and down 3 times while Patricia was in Canberra. Now the Skywhale family are off on a National tour.
Patricia's next showing in Australia is ‘A Miracle Constantly Repeated’, a major exhibition to take place in the extraordinary spaces above Flinders Street Station, that will feature mostly new works and installations. The project is commissioned by Rising Melbourne and will premiere as part of the festival on May 26th. (I think there might be some glass components)
While Annette Blair and Ngaio Fitzpatrick trialed and tested another shape, I tried casting and burning out mushrooms which was messy and magical!
Next up, I made a 3 part blow mould of a boot to be taken into the Hot shop and blown by Tom Rowney assisted by Aimee Frodsham, Nadina Geary, Oscar Curtis and me! (thankfully I had a small role - part of which was relearning being in a very busy glass blowing studio)
The boot mould shaping up in the mould room: 3 plaster parts and "scaffolding" for locking shut and angles. The plaster picked up every detail -stitching, wrinkles and seams. This glass blowing process won't pick up all the minute detail but will allow the glass to be removed from the mould and shaped.
In the hot shop - such a wow moment seeing the first hot bubble of glass transform into a BOOT!
The week after Patricia brought me a 3D printed object from her studio to try out as a blow mould. It's a beguiling process!
I can't wait to see how Patricia uses the glass components created on her residency.