Tom Malone Prize 2022

Ruth Allen’s history stems from the Canberra School of Art where she graduated from a Bachelor of Arts degree in Glass in 1993, Ruth later went on to graduate from Monash University with a Masters of Fine Art in Sculpture & Glass in 2006. Ruth has exhibited, taught and participated in workshops in prominent glass venues around the world.

From 1996-2000 Ruth co-directed a hot glass studio in Auckland, NZ producing limited edition exhibition pieces, Jewellery and Lighting. Ruth has actively been involved in community growth with her chosen medium (Glass) becoming the President of NZSAG (New Zealand Society of Artists in Glass) from 1995 – 2000 where she orchestrated an extensive International Conference and series of Workshops titled ‘Pacific Light’. Ruth currently works from her own hot glass studio in Coburg Nth, (Victoria) the studio is well equipped with; hot glass furnace, kilns, cold working equipment, woodworking tools, ceramic studio and more.

Ruth and her partner have worked tirelessly to create a workshop that enables them to make almost anything. Ruth not only creates her own signature works from her studio, she now facilitates many other artists to actualise their visions and participates collaboratively on large scaled projects with interior designers, lighting designers and architects.

My works are a direct result of intimate conversations I have with myself. These works are not a window into the outside world, rather unhurried studies that derive from introspection. Interested in the deterioration of matter, I question the idea of silence, purity and existence.

As a visual artist with a material practice concerned with glass, Curtis has been fascinated by the production of objects inspired by the minutia of architectural structures in nature.

Having enjoyed an informal apprenticeship in glassblowing, assisting at Denizen glass in Sydney in the early 90’s. Curtis then exhibited extensively throughout Australia. Researching and experimenting with unconventional approaches to extend his understanding of traditional techniques. Refining his eye for detail whilst expanding his material knowledge. His work is regularly curated into International Art fairs and exhibitions. He is based in Queanbeyan, NSW, at a home-studio where he and his partner Harriet Schwarzrock run a vibrant glassblowing studio and arts practice. While resident studio hounds inspect their progress.

Matthew has developed a rigorous approach, his affinity, dexterity, and experience with manipulating glass is extensive. From melting subtle hues by chemically manipulating the base materials. Then creating exacting moulds to generate exquisite sculptural forms. He is interested in capturing a depth and complexity to the blown and cast glass components. Where the finish captures hues of transparent colours fading and gathering in intensity, dependent upon the depth or delicate edge of the work.

Recent projects of Matthews have writ large these exquisite forms, creating intimate details within generous and sophisticated enveloping forms. Culminating in engaging illuminated public sculpture “Field of Light’ in Canberra. His work is widely collected, and he has been selected for prestigious residencies, including the WheatonArts Creative Glass Fellowship; Wheaton New Jersey USA, Canberra Glassworks Fellowship; Australia the Corning Museum International Artist in Resident; Corning NY, USA.

His work is included in private and public collections including Corning Museum of Glass; USA, The Saxe Collection of the De Young Museum SFS; USA, Ernt Stiftung; Germany, The National Gallery of Australia, & Wagga Wagga National Glass Art Collection; Australia.

Photo by Hilary Wardhaugh.

Tim came to glass from a ceramic background, from which he developed a bold sense of design and surface manipulation. This can be seen in the works for which he has gained an international reputation. Tim’s work is blown or shaped in the hotshop and then cut, carved and ground using the lathe with diamond and stone wheels.

He has a strong connection to JamFactory, the premier Craft and Design facility located in Adelaide, South Australia. It was here that Tim was exposed to hot glass. After completing a traineeship in Ceramics in 1992 he became the first artist in the JamFactory’s history to undertake a second traineeship. This he completed in the Glass Studio in 1996.

Exhibiting nationally and internationally, Tim has art work in major public collections, notably the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, USA, Museum of Glass, Tacoma, USA, National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Western Australia and Wagga Wagga National Art Glass collection.

Tim’s innovative and striking work has achieved significant recognition over his 25 year career. Key highlights include the 2006 Rakow Commission from the Corning Museum of Glass, being the second Australian to receive this significant award. And in 2018 Tim was selected to participate in the prestigious Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, “Divided Worlds” at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Tim currently works as an artist and glass studio technician at JamFactory, and shares a home studio with partner, Clare Belfrage. Photo by Grant Hancock.

New Zealand born, Wendy Fairclough now lives and works in South Australia.

Fairclough has exhibited throughout Asia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Australia. Her work is represented in private and public collections including the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Gallery of Australia, Australian National Art Glass Collection, Australian National University Collection, and Museum of Australian Democracy.

Drawing from a background of Printmaking, Sculpture and Applied Arts Fairclough creates compositions and installations using blown and cast glass, cast bronze and aluminium, and found objects. She focuses on what we have in common regardless of culture and religion. This focus has led her to artist residencies in China, New Zealand and India.

“I‘m interested in what we humans have in common – regardless of culture, race, or religious beliefs. I’m looking for the connecting place where we can recognise our sameness. Experiences of home, sense of belonging, food, work, ritual, stories, all feed my curiosity and influence what I make and what material I use to make it with. It matters deeply to me that my work is accessible to people from different walks of life and that they can bring their own meanings to it.”

1 August 1951 – Chicago, Illinois. USA

BA History and Secondary Teaching Diploma. University of Colorado 1973

Australian citizen. – Living in Perth, Western Australia since 1988

Lifetime collector of glass. I committed to becoming a full time glass artist 20 years ago. Began my glass practice in 2002. Established a slumping, fusing and cold- working studio attached to my home. Built full production and teaching studio (BeachGecko Glass) in Joondalup WA in 2006. My studio contains facilities and equipment for: “Hot glass” – glass blowing. “Cold- working” cutting, polishing, shaping , grinding, etching and sandblasting. “Warm glass” slumping, fusing. “Flame-working” bead making and torch based flame work. Since those beginnings, I have produced works for galleries, personal collections and commissions. I also teach a range of classes across most hot and warm glass art disciplines in my studio. Personal skill development occurs through adherence to the principle of “life long learning”.

My education in glass art practice has been as a mature adult. It has consisted of: Extensive personal research. “Hands on “ courses and master classes with a range of leading Glass Art practitioners. I am grateful for these memorable moments in my development . They come as an artist belonging to a community that exchanges its experience and insights generously. We share a belief that learning is a continuum with no end. Fascination with glass has been an exciting personal journey. Exploring new concepts and techniques involves experimentation with forms, colours and textures that capture conscious and intuitive design directions. My purpose is creating work to be touched and contemplated. Glass is a complex medium of endless possibilities. Work created in my BeachGecko studio has a secure and considered foundation in traditional and contemporary glass craft practice.

Brenden Scott French is a South Australian artist who works in both blown and kiln-formed glass. He has trained extensively in glass practice in Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra since 1997. During the past twenty years he has exhibited widely both in Australia and overseas.

He was the 2020 recipient of ArtGroup Creative Fellowship from Canberra Glassworks. Brenden has also undertaken residencies in Tacoma Museum of Glass in Tacoma USA, Northlands Creative Glass Centre, Lybster, Scotland and Australian National University Glass Workshop.

In 2007 he was the recipient of the Stephen Procter Fellowship. His work is held in numerous private and public collections both in Australia and abroad including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the USA.

Marcel Hoogstad Hay is an Adelaide-based glass artist, working primarily with blown and kiln-formed glass. He received a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hons) in 2012 from the Glass Workshop at the Australian National University School of Art and Design, Canberra. During 2013 and 2014 he was a JamFactory Glass Studio Associate. Hoogstad Hay’s work is influenced by ideas that arise in astrophysics and quantum mechanics. Through the application of traditional Venetian cane techniques, he creates patterns in glass that illustrate and explore these ideas.

In 2015 Hoogstad Hay was the recipient of the Endeavour Executive Fellowship from the Australian Government, to undertake a residency at Berlin Glas e.V., Germany. In 2018 he participated in the Rosenberg Residency at Salem State University, USA and was a recipient of the Rick and Val Beck Glass Scholarship at Penland School of Craft, USA. Hoogstad Hay was a FUSE Glass Prize finalist in 2020 and a Tom Malone Prize finalist in 2021. His work is held in the Ernsting Foundation Glass Museum collection in Germany.

Rita Kellaway spent her early, formative years in the South Australian outback town of Woomera, surrounded by an arid, treeless desert. The imagery she first encountered there, of ancient geological formations, continues to inspire her.

Using innovative kiln-firing and casting techniques, Rita purposefully experiments with molten glass flow and colour reactions occurring at high temperatures, and cold-working processes applied when the glass has cooled, to imitate a variety of geological processes including sedimentation, metamorphism, extrusion and erosion. Her enigmatic artworks are conversely both fragile and strong, subtle and bold.

Graduating from the University of South Australia in 2019 with a Bachelor Degree in Visual Art (Glass), Rita was also awarded the prestigious Harry P Gill Memorial Award (awarded to most outstanding student in Ceramics, Glass or Jewellery & Metal) and the University Medal.

Since then, she has received numerous accolades including:

Finalist in the 2021 Tom Malone Prize, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Highly Commended in the 2020 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, South Australian Museum
Finalist in the 2020 National Emerging Glass Art Prize, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, New South Wales
Winner of the 2020 Vicki Torr Emerging Artist Prize by the Australian Association of Glass Artists.

Her work is held in private collections, both nationally and internationally.

In my 49th year of working with glass I cannot ignore the possibility that it may one day come to an end. There will be the last series, the last exhibition and the last piece. The circumstances and time are unknowable but the yearning to work expressively is undaunted. New ideas are being considered; old ideas being re-examined.

The work exhibited was some 20 years in the making. The notion of the real and the virtual as being constructs of the mind gave rise to the two dimensional ‘vessel’, here almost replicated in its partner form.

My works are exhibited, collected and published internationally. They are held in more than twenty public collections and many corporate and private collections worldwide. When will the world have enough of my works? Given the fragility of the environment perhaps I should refrain from or restrict further production.

Formerly Coordinator of Glass Studies and subsequently Head of the School of Design at the University of South Australia I have since 1996 been primarily engaged in exhibiting while also undertaking consultancy projects, design commissions and architectural projects. Periodically I publish articles on contemporary glass, teach workshops, give lectures and present conference papers internationally.

Peter Kovacsy has lived and worked in Pemberton in the South West of Western Australia for more than forty years creating sculptural and functional artefacts from wood, glass, metal and ceramics. He chose to settle in Pemberton because land was affordable, it was a good place to build a home and start a business, and the relative isolation suits the nature of his practice. Inevitably, this setting has influenced his aesthetic and, as others have done, Kovacsy draws inspiration from the forest landscape and movement of light across natural phenomena.

Kovacsy started practicing as a designer-maker in 1989, specialising in bespoke wooden objects and fine wood furniture featuring native timbers. Notable works created during this era include a series of hollow lathe-turned bowls, such as Cosmic Tribal Hunters (1997) in the Art Gallery of WA collection. He began experimenting with cast glass in the mid–to–late 1990s after visiting Design Visions: the Australian International Craft Triennial at AGWA in 1992 where he saw contemporary glass art unlike anything he had seen before. This experience inspired him to switch his focus from wood to the design and production of large-scale kiln-cast glass sculptures. Selection for AGWA’s prestigious Tom Malone Prize in 2018 and 2021 illustrates recognition of his skills in this medium within the national glass art community.

Peter Kovacsy has always been fascinated by the challenge of working with wood or glass, or combinations of both, and strives constantly for excellence, whether working towards an exhibition, on a commission or public art project. His workshop is equipped with the only privately-owned kiln in WA capable of producing complex large scale cast glass sculpture. Investing in precision technology has enabled him to offer glass casting design and production services on commission, and provide access to foundry facilities for other artists.

His portfolio of wood and glass sculptural objects is extensive. His work is sought after and represented in public, private and corporate collections nationally and internationally. He has exhibited widely in Australia and overseas. Showcasing his practice and personal collection to visitors to his studio gallery in Pemberton underpins his belief that people are interested in seeing process as well as finished artworks in the setting that inspired them.

Nick Mount has been blowing glass since a cowboy boot-wearing American introduced him to it in the mid 70s. Looking back, it was a fortuitous time as only months earlier he had married his partner of now more than 45 years, Pauline. Together they went on to establish Victoria’s first hot glass studio, raise three relatively well-adjusted children, and develop an internationally renowned arts practice. Today, they enjoy the chaos of family events with seven grandchildren and Nick is celebrated as one of the most important and influential figures in contemporary Australian studio glass.

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Nick works out of a home studio and the JamFactory’s open access hot shop. In the traditions of the studio glass movement, he is an advocate for communal training and production, and has a reputation for being a generous teacher and mentor. He used to travel regularly, both exhibiting and demonstrating around the world pre COVID.

Nick’s work is materials and process driven. His early exposure to the thriving studio glass scene on the West Coast of the United States, and the historic and cultural traditions of the Venetians remain an enduring influence. So too does his commitment to continually expanding his knowledge of the enigmatic qualities of glass and his belief in the power of working with his hands. More broadly, Nick draws on that which is most important to him: his family; the productive garden he and Pauline have spent thirty years cultivating; the glass community; and the people and places he visits.

Jessica Murtagh is an Adelaide artist working with blown glass. With a Master’s in Design (Contemporary Art) from the University of South Australia, her practice is based out of the renowned craft and design space JamFactory. An arts practice which leans heavily on illustration, Jessica uses sandblasting and engraving techniques to create imagery and storytelling narratives on glass. Predominantly vessel work, her art is both functional and sculptural ranging from vibrant and dramatic to subdued, drawing inspiration from both the natural world as well as classical artefacts contrasted with contemporary themes.

Jessica has exhibited in prizes and exhibitions Australia wide and internationally. She was awarded Highly Commended in the 2021 Waterhouse Natural Science prize, the MilanoVetro -35 prize in Milan as well as the Wagga Wagga National Emerging Glass Prize in 2020. A Vicki Torr Emerging Artist Prize winner, Jessica has work in a number of private collections and was recently acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria, the Australian Catholic University Art Collection and the Australian Parliament House Art Collection.

Emma Varga graduated from University of Art in Belgrade (former Yugoslavia) in 1975, Diplomas in Ceramic Sculpture and Glass Design; Works as freelance glass artist since 1973 – present. Moved to Australia in 1995; lives and works in Sydney. Extensively exhibited in Australia and abroad in over 100 major international and group exhibitions, Staged over 30 solo exhibitions in Australia and worldwide.

Emma experimented with combining glass techniques and possibilities of creating controlled three-dimensional images within transparent glass objects, which resulted in developing her signature ‘multiple layers fusing / casting technique’, evolving in past two decades. A new interest in pâte de verre led to developing and combining numerous unconventional methods of application of this versatile technique in past ten years; represented in book “Pâte de verre – the material of time” 2022.

Emma shared her knowledge and expertise in glass as tutor in numerous masterclasses and workshops in glass centers worldwide. Her work is represented in a book “Australian Glass”, 2005, and in Museums collections in Australia and. abroad. Emma received Australia council grants in 2006 and 2012, Stephen Procter Fellowship and ‘Arctic Circle Residency in 2017; Create NSW Grant 2021 is supporting her 4 exhibitions celebrating 50th anniversary of working in glass.

Photo by Rhoda Baer, glass artist & photographer.

Janice Vitkovsky is an Adelaide based artist. Her artwork focuses on conveying a sense of impermanence, constructing intricate patterns to form ambiguous landscapes in glass, examining perception.

Exploring the historic murrine technique to compose detailed pattern, her work combines both hot and cold glass processes while pursuing new applied techniques with the medium.

Beginning her studies at the University of South Australia attaining a Bachelor of Applied Arts, she went on to complete the Design Associate program at Jam Factory Centre for Contemporary Craft and Design in Adelaide, and an Honours degree at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Her work is held in public and private collections and her practice includes teaching, participating in national and international artist residency programs, and assisting other artists.