Giles Bettison
Giles Bettison — 'Vista 22' #7, 2022
"I have travelled a lot in my life. Landscapes, natural, rural and urban, have been influential in my work and life on many levels. I have explored the ways that places I visit or have lived in can influence my work, both actively and passively. My interest in landscape has also given me an interest in maps. I have found that looking at maps always gives me a desire to travel to and see the places depicted. I often imagine the places in the maps and find pictures to help me build an image in my mind. I am interested in the way an abstract representation of a place, a map for example, can ignite my curiosity, it is perhaps similar to the way a work of art can inspire or initiate imagination or contemplation. The Vista, Billett and Grid series are like maps, not of places but of ideas and feelings. Looking closely or into the pieces reveals more information. Each piece is the beginning of the next, the work is a journey."
—
—
Glass Futures
September 18 – November 1
Glass Futures presents a collection of works produced during an intensive masterclass at r.a.g.e, led by renowned glass artist Giles Bettison and artist-educator Lienors Torre. This body of work showcases how participants engaged with the intricacies of pattern and form in glass, inspired by the centuries-old Venetian tradition of murrine. Working with Bullseye sheet glass rather than traditional furnace glass, participants developed a contemporary take on this technique under Bettison’s tutelage. Once vessels were formed in the hot shop, Torre introduced various coldworking processes, allowing for intricate surface refinement and the elevation of each work to a new level of clarity and expression.
At its heart, Glass Futures is a dialogue between tradition and innovation. Anchored in the lineage of Australian studio glass, this exhibition celebrates the transfer of material knowledge to a new generation of makers. The resulting works embody the rhythm of process — layered, fused, shaped and carved — revealing glass as a medium that is at once enigmatic and precise.
For participants at different stages in their careers, this masterclass was both a technical and artistic threshold: an invitation to refine skill whilst articulating an individual voice. Together, the works in Glass Futures testify to the vitality of independent glass education in Australia, offering a glimpse into the bold and evolving future of the medium.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, as well as generous support from Bullseye Glass, Craft Victoria, and r.a.g.e.
Artist List – Eva Alisic, Ruth Allen, Giles Bettison, Laura de Carteret, Nick Doran Adams, Cheryl Edwards, Juniper Maffescioni, Clare Millar, Elizabeth Parsons, Nicole Polentas, Michelle Stewart, Lienors Torre, Keely Varmalis
Read more about the exhibition here:
Material: Cold assembled, hot worked murrini, hot formed and cold finished
Dimensions: 24 x 15 x 15cm
Please note when purchasing, exhibition works are to be collected when exhibition closes.
Shipping costs may be estimates. Please feel free to contact shop@craft.org.au who will be available to provide an Art Courier quote or shipping costs for larger items.