Commonalities II - Wendy Fairclough 2021

Commonalities II Wendy Fairclough 13 February – 6 March 2021

Softened landscape II. 2008 18 objects, hand blown glass, sandblasted, partly oiled; H370mm W890mm D400mm

$9,950

Water Pressure Series I. 2009 blown glass vessel, sandblasted, engraved, enamel paint; H218mm Dia310mm

$7500

Water Pressure Series I. 2009 blown glass vessel, sandblasted, engraved, enamel paint; H335mm Dia230mm

$7500

Four Shades Of White. 2009 15 blown glass objects, sandblasted, hand lapped; H370mm W630mm D450m

$9400

Amber Palace, Jaipur. 2014 6 fibreglass reinforced concrete, 6 cast lead crystal items ( 2 turbans, 4 bottles), metal bucket handle; W1770mm D1030mm H340mm

$9950

Quiet Industry. 2010 Cast lead crystal, wooden bench; H600mm W1640mm D340mm

$26,000

Clothe. 2012 7 Cast lead crystal objects; W240mm D220mm H210mm

$6850

With my food basket … 2016 3 Cast bronze kete in collaboration with Trina Taurua, cast lead crystal 38 kumara, 7 clusters of peru peru; W1800mm L1220mm

$30,000

Fill To Line. 2014 9 Cast lead crystal objects; W730mm D280mm H280mm

$10,200

Shades of Green. 2008 18 blown glass objects, sand-blasted; H385mm W1050mm D460mm

$9950

Biography "Fairclough’s work is characterised by a distinctive visual language, instantly recognisable as the artist’s own, that at the same time allows her to articulate a diversity of ideas and concerns. Her understated aesthetic combines approaches derived from her background in painting, printmaking, sculpture and installation with a deep and abiding love of the materiality of glass. The basic building blocks of Fairclough’s work are common, domestic objects, transposed into glass by way of casting, blowing and cold-working. These objects form the basis of carefully arranged tableaux that blend a painter’s understanding of light, colour and composition with an acute sensitivity to the poetic possibilities of objects in space.” (Roy Ananda) Wendy’s Adelaide Hills, studio-based practice comprises exhibition work, commissions and lecturing. She has exhibited throughout Asia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Australia.

Wendy’s work is represented in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Australian Art Glass Collection, Australian National University Collection, Museum of Australian Democracy, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“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; myths; 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.”

Wendy Fairclough: Common Ground Tylee Cottage residency works and a survey 2007 – 2014 25 November – 11 February 2018 At the age of eighteen Wendy Fairclough left her hometown of Whanganui for a ‘wander around’ Australia and has since made it her home, settling in Adelaide. In the early 1990s she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking and sculpture at the South Australian School of Art. Subsequently she attended a glass blowing workshop with Nick Mount which motivated a return to Art School to study glass and from which she graduated with an Applied Arts degree in 2000. Since then Fairclough has been hooked on the magic of glass and has gone on to establish an impressive track record of exhibiting in Australia and overseas, her work is held in many private and public collections, including the national art collections of Australia and New Zealand.

Fairclough found that the medium of glass provided her practice with discipline, boundaries and physical challenges. The three dimensionality of objects in a space and in conversation with each other, has provided fertile ground for her work. Initially her chosen process was glass blowing but after a shoulder injury Fairclough needed the assistance of gaffers to bring her blown forms to reality. Although this had the benefit of being able to draw on the expertise of blowers with a higher level of technical knowledge than her own, she missed the hands on aspect of the process. Casting allowed a return to this and also the means to produce forms she simply couldn’t in blowing, Fairclough’s exploration of casting has led to her also utilising materials such as aluminium and concrete and more recently bronze in her installation-based work.

Although it’s easy enough to categorise these works as still lifes, we soon realise that they are anything but still. They are often imbued with memory, yearning and a desire to document objects from the world around her that are familiar. What Fairclough is interested in is the ‘common ground’ that connects us all. Divisive opinions around religion and politics are often at the forefront of our media saturated world and this has been something that has bothered and at times angered Fairclough in the political climate of Australia. Her response to this is to produce works that explore what we all have in common – the basic needs of food, warmth, shelter and connection.

In 2016 Fairclough was able to return to Whanganui to be the Sarjeant Gallery’s artist-in-residence at Tylee Cottage for six months. Her residency, supported by Arts South Australia and Creative New Zealand, allowed her to reconnect with her hometown for an extended period of time and gave her the freedom to work on an ambitious new project firmly located in New Zealand. This exhibition includes a new body of work that was conceived of before, during and after her time in Whanganui that explores food sources for both Maori and Pākehā during the time of settlement.

This is the first time that Fairclough’s works have been seen en masse in a New Zealand public gallery and the Sarjeant Gallery is proud to have mounted this exhibition, bringing home this artist’s poetic, beautiful and finely crafted work.

Greg Donson Curator & Public Programmes Manager Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui

WENDY FAIRCLOUGH CV ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS 2000 Bachelor of Applied Arts. Glass Major. South Australian School of Art. University of South Australia 1998 Graduate Diploma in Education and Training of Adults. University of South Australia.

1991 Bachelor of Visual Art. Sculpture and Printmaking Majors. South Australian School of Art, University of SA PUBLIC COLLECTIONS National Gallery of Australia. ACT Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. New Zealand Australian National Art Glass Collection. Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. NSW Museum of Australian Democracy. ACT Toledo Museum of Art. OH. USA Australian National University Art Collection. ACT New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Los Angeles. USA AWARDS AND GRANTS 2015 Creative New Zealand: Research and develop new work in New Zealand for exhibition.

2015 Arts SA: Research and Develop new work for Exhibition 2012 Australia Council for the Arts: Research and development of new work 2011 Commissioned Art Work: Museum of Australian Democracy. ACT Arts SA: Development of New Work 2010 Arts SA: Development of New Work 2009 Arts SA: Development of New Work 2007 Australia Council for the Arts: Development of New Work 2005 Arts SA: Development of New Work 2004 Arts SA: Development of New Work 2002 Nominee: Corning Glass Award. Pilchuck Glass School. USA 2001 General Scholarship: Pilchuck Glass School. USA Cultural Trust Grant: Ian Potter Foundation. Melbourne.

PUBLICATIONS 2017 Artnews New Zealand. Spring 2017. Kete, Kumara & Cast Glass. By Grace Cochrane.pp98-101 2017 Contemporary Australian Glass. The Tom Malone Prize 2003-2017.Various Authors.The Art Gallery of Western Australia 2015 Glass: art design architecture. Margaret Hancock Davis, Brian Parkes. Jam Factory. South Australia 2012 The Journal of Australian Ceramics.512. Australian Ceramics Assoc. NSW 2011 New Glass Review 32. International juried selection. The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.

2010 Masters: Blown Glass. Lark Books. Asheville NC.USA Craft Arts International #79.

2008 Bulletin. Issue 4. July 2008. Craftsouth Centre for Contemporary Craft and Design.

2006 25 Years of New Glass Review. Tina Oldknow. The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.

New Glass Review 27. International juried selection. The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.

2005 Australian Glass Today. Margot Osborne. Wakefield Press. South Australia 2004 New Glass Review 25. International juried selection. The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.

2004 Craft Arts International #61.

GROUP & SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 FUSE Glass Prize: Jam Factory Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia.

2019 Line Play: Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ. 2018 Collective Imagination: New Zealand Glassworks. Whanganui. New Zealand 2017-18 Common Ground : Tylee Cottage Residency & selected works 2007-14. Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare au Rehua.

Whanganui. New Zealand. Suter Gallery, Nelson, NZ. Oct - Dec 2018 2017 Domestic Goddess: Incinerator Art Space. Sydney. Australia 2017 OBJECT/IVE: Milford Galleries Dunedin. NZ 2017/16 Fired Up: Contemporary Glass by Women Artists from the Toledo Museum of Art. Mint Museum. Nth Carolina. USA 2016 Still Life. Milford Galleries. Queenstown. New Zealand 2016 FUSE Glass Prize. Jam Factory Gallery. South Australia 2015 Transluscent Shadows. SASA Gallery. South Australia (SA) 2015-18 GLASS: Art design architecture. Jam Factory Gallery. SA 2014 Everywhere you look. Solo Exhibition. Narek Galleries. NSW Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award. Melbourne VIC Art Shanghai 2014. Shanghai. China The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize. South Australia Museum. SA Propagate. The Barn. Aldgate. South Australia

2013 2012 2011

2010

2009 2008

2007 2006

2005

2004 2003

2002

Heartland. Art Gallery of South Australia. South Australia Echo. Sabbia Gallery. Sydney. NSW Eat! Canberra Glassworks. ACT Traverse. Milford Galleries Dunedin. New Zealand Still Life Still. Adelaide Central Gallery. Adelaide. SA Nora Heysen Centenary Art Prize for Still Life. Hahndorf Academy. SA Breach. Smoke Stack Gallery. Canberra. ACT Reality. Imago Galleries. Palm Desert. California. USA Commonalities. Solo Exhibition. Drill Hall Gallery. ANU. Canberra. ACT 10 Contemporary Australian Artists: A glass act. Australian Galleries. Smith St. Melbourne. Victoria.

Beyond The Surface. Aptos Cruz Galleries. SA Ranamok Glass Prize 2009. Touring Australia Southern Lights. Kirra Galleries Federation Square. Melbourne. Victoria.

White Hot: Contemporary Australian Glass. Touring Bangkok, Hanoi, Taiwan Masterworks in Glass. Narek Galleries. Tanja. NSW Visionaries. Sabbia Gallery. Sydney. NSW Crossfire. Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. NSW Summer Exhibition. Milford Galleries Auckland. Auckland. New Zealand Fragments & the Still Life Narek Galleries. Tanja. NSW Australian Glass 2006. Sandra Ainsley Gallery. Toronto. Ontario. Canada.

Ranamok Glass Prize 2006. Touring Australia Object. Milford Galleries Dunedin. New Zealand Glass. Anna Bibby Gallery. Auckland. New Zealand.

Novizio. Sabbia Gallery. Sydney. NSW Wendy Fairclough and Emma Petersen. New Works. Adelaide Central Gallery. South Australia Australian Landscape. Greenaway Art Gallery. Adelaide. South Australia.

Glass Invitational New Zealand. Milford Galleries. Touring New Zealand Ranamok Glass Prize 2004. Touring Australia Overview Abstraction & Still Life. Milford Galleries Dunedin. New Zealand Neil Frazer. Wendy Fairclough. John Nicol: Recent Works. Milford Galleries Auckland. New Zealand Ranamok Glass Prize 2003. Touring Australia The Inaugural Tom Malone Prize. Art Gallery of Western Australia. Perth WA Members Exhibition. Moores Building. Ausglass Biennial International Conference. Perth. Western Australia.

Glass Invitational New Zealand. Milford Galleries. Touring New Zealand.

Ranamok Glass Prize 2002. Touring Australia and Washington DC, USA Mitsukoshi International Glass Arts Festival. Taiwan.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2018 Artist Residency. Shanghai. China. Yiwei Art Foundation & Guildhouse SA 2016 Tylee Cottage Artist Residency. 6 months. Whanganui. New Zealand 2013 Speaker. Glass Skills Contemporary Glass Society Conference. United Kingdom.

2011 Commissioned Art work. Museum of Australian Democracy. Canberra 2010 Artist in Residence. Canberra Glassworks. ACT 2009 Peer Assessment Panelist. Arts SA. South Australia 2003-10 Lecturer. Glass Dept. Subjects: Introduction to Glass Forming, Cold Processes, Professional Practice. South Australian School of Art, Architecture and Design. Uni of South Australia.

2007-08 Residency. Blue Pony Studios. South Australia 2005 Conference Panelist. ‘Bright Ideas’. Glass Arts Society’s 35th Annual International Conference. Adelaide.

South Australia 2003 Ausglass Biennial International Conference. Perth. Western Australia.

Teaching Assistant. Alasdair & Rish Gordon Engraving Workshop. WA. Ausglass Biennial International Conference. Perth. Western Australia.

2002 Artist in Residence. Jam Factory Glass Studio. Adelaide. SA