Glass art is not for the fragile | ||
| Scott Chaseling (left) and Tom Rowney work on one of the pieces for the Latitudes II workshop held at the Canberra School of Art last month. | ||
By Shelly Simonds Bare hands, molten glass, blow-torches ablaze in the corner - the ANU's glass workshop is enough to make the uninitiated quite nervous. "It's not that dangerous," says one glassblower with aplomb - despite the large burn on his leg. He was one of the artists involved in Latitudes II, a workshop recently held at the Canberra School of Art. The workshop gave glass blowers from around Australia the opportunity to test their skills with an unusual medium: a special coloured glass donated by Bullseye Glass Company of Portland, Oregon. One of the first things to strike the visitor to the workshop is how much physical work goes into glass blowing. Forget the serene artist slowly shaping a piece of glass. This kind of art requires brawn, sweat, speed and teamwork. It took the efforts of seven glass blowers to create the vessel in the picture on the right: one to lift the heavy iron rod into the cauldron of molten glass; another to help support the rod while two more artists moulded the blob of glass on the end of the rod; another to blow the glass; and an additional two artists standing by to open the heavy doors of the kiln for firing. Latitudes II coordinator Kirstie Rea says the coloured glass is unique because it has the same expansion coefficient as clear glass, making it easy to create colourful and original works. The glass art works resulting from the two-week session will be included in an international exhibition which will travel to Japan, the USA and return for an exhibition in Australia. | ||