CSA's Glass Workshop fired up over $140,000 grant
By Shelly Simonds The Canberra School of Art's Glass Workshop has won a $140,000 equipment grant to purchase a new integrated glass furnace system. Stephen Procter, Head of the Glass Workshop, said the announcement in December topped off a great year for the workshop, with several students winning international competitions and various distinguished artists visiting the studio. "The grant reflects our success in raising the international profile of the workshop and the university. The workshop is the centre of excellence in this region and this equipment will enable us to stay at the forefront," Mr Procter said. The new glass furnace will raise the quality and efficiency of glass making by reducing noise and power consumption and increasing safety. The grant was won in a competitive bid from the ANU's Major Equiment Committee. It gave $3 million to major equipment projects around the University for 1998. Mr Procter said the present glass studio was 15 years old and "built of bits and pieces". "In 15 years technology changes rather rapidly. The new equipment will be computerised and will allow us to be more versatile and efficient," he said. The Glass Workshop is the only hot glass workshop in the region, with the closest located in Sydney. The studio attracts artists from around Australia and internationally and the new furnace system will form an important part of the CSA's outreach, both to artists and to potential students. It will allow experimentation with a greater range of glass practice, including architectural glass - cast in blocks and used as design elements in buildings. "Glass is everywhere. It's part of everyday life. But people are so used to looking through it they don't even notice it," Mr Procter said. In other Glass Workshop achievements: · ANU students Claudia Borella and Mies Grybaitis were two of six international prize winners at the recent Young Glass exhibition in Denmark. · Jeweller Susan Cohn recently visited the Glass Workshop to try her hand designing in glass for the first time. She will submit a prototype of the result of her work, a glass pitcher, to the Italian industrial design company Alessi. · Former ANU Creative Arts Fellow Fiona Hall continues to work on the design of the new National Gallery sculpture garden. She recently created limited edition engraved water vessels at the Glass Workshop which will soon be on sale at the Gallery. · Kirstie Rea is designing prototypes for Swarovtski, the Austrian maker of small crystal animals and figurines.