Thesis Abstract
In this thesis I identify romanticism as a foundation for my critical engagement with Australian studio glass as a contemporary art practice. I interview members of the Australian studio glassmaking community to find a consensus to direct this study. The study is then divided between narratives that surround the studio glass object and the qualities of glass as a medium for the contemporary artist.
I explore narrative and its power to engage the viewer and connote form within Australian studio glasswork. I establish a dialogue between theoretical and material narratives of technical process, genre, identity and artistic sensibility.
I examine the viewer’s psychological interaction with the physical character of glass and its processes as both glass and technical process are subsumed within the expression of concept in the event of interpretation. I show that glass achieves transcendence both through the glass object’s conceptual capacity to carry narratives at multiple levels and through the glass object’s physical ability to transmit light. I establish that these inherent qualities are utilised by contemporary art practitioners.
I also present a methodology that utilises the forces inherent in the glassmaking process to achieve creative originality.
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In this thesis I identify romanticism as a foundation for my critical engagement with Australian studio glass as a contemporary art practice. I interview members of the Australian studio glassmaking community to find a consensus to direct this study. The study is then divided between narratives that surround the studio glass object and the qualities of glass as a medium for the contemporary artist.
I explore narrative and its power to engage the viewer and connote form within Australian studio glasswork. I establish a dialogue between theoretical and material narratives of technical process, genre, identity and artistic sensibility.
I examine the viewer’s psychological interaction with the physical character of glass and its processes as both glass and technical process are subsumed within the expression of concept in the event of interpretation. I show that glass achieves transcendence both through the glass object’s conceptual capacity to carry narratives at multiple levels and through the glass object’s physical ability to transmit light. I establish that these inherent qualities are utilised by contemporary art practitioners.
I also present a methodology that utilises the forces inherent in the glassmaking process to achieve creative originality.
Return to contents page