1. GALIA AMSEL, Surf 9 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture,
etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 513 x 748 x 155 mm
2. GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture,
etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 492 x 435 x 72 mm
DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011)
2. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011)
3. GALIA AMSEL, Floe 2 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture,
acid etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 570 x 513 x 170 mm
3. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Floe 2 (2011)
4. GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture,
texture, acid etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 342 x 384 x 60 mm
4. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011)
4. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011)
GALIA AMSEL, Antarctic Drift
GALIA AMSEL, White Squall 5 (2010) cast glass, hand smoothed
size
x h x d): 605 x 525 x 120 mm
DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, White Squall 5 (2010)
GALIA AMSEL, West Wind Drift 3 (2010) cast glass, hand
size
x h x d): 475 x 605 x 200 mm
7. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, West Wind Drift 3 (2010)
A “gentle change” is occurring in Galia Amsel’s glass. It’s been in process for some while. From 2004, when she moved to NZ, narratives of landscape and natural event emerged, adding expressive and atmospheric qualities to the triangulated, geometric shapes and abstract substance existing.
Amsel’s visual language is also substantially design and form based, with the drama of space, motion, fluid colour and varied mass integral. Her works vibrate with light and the numerous and varied finishing techniques used come to mean important individualised things in each work. The incomplete open circle and the certainty of line begin talking. Her works have architectural presence and become ritualistic objects.
The slow evolution in her work means Amsel is combining the old and new together. This progressive, sequential development of her work strengthens and broadens it. To the observational quality existing, Amsel is beginning to add meaning. The new “Inner Spirit” series hints at an alternative direction and a more personal content. The metaphoric, symbolism of an hourglass shape occupies the centre, seeming to rise up and down like bubbles in an oil lamp. The technical complexity of the layering and fusing, of slumping and bending processes, and casting is hidden by a sense of spontaneity.
“White Squall” (2010), “West Wind Drift” (2010), reference and capture weather phenomenon in choreography of motion and moment. “Surf 9” (2011) bends; delivering a sliced wave about to fall. “Floe” (2011) and “Antarctic Drift 3” (2008) speak of ice flow and reveal a representational impulse.
The ambiguously titled “Blew” (2011) introduces a remarkable new form. Each rising end enters the air blade-like, seeming to twist, crossover and change position.
GALIA AMSEL
b.1967,livesAuckland
Galia Amsel’s work is characterised by exploration of colour, form, motion and intervention. The simplicity of her work comes from a “highly developed visual sense” and spatial harmonies founded in “geometry and the resolution of mathematical formulae”. Her basic shapes are the forms of a circle, rectangle or square which have been “broken open or interrupted in some way” and these openings “always create drama and tension.” Inevitably, the “empty spaces… are as important as those occupied by the glass mass.”(1)
Galia has experimented "boldly with form. The circles and rectangles of her earlier work have opened up and found new spatial rhythms, new points of balance. Large open circular and oval forms balance on 'tip toe' reminiscent of a dancer on point. They are perfectly stable but balletic movement is implied in the way they are constructed. Her technical mastery also allows for gradations of colour and transparency,that makes the work vibrate withlight". (2)
Amsel’s work has the beguiling presence of various surface textures and cold-working techniques (polishing, sandblasting, resist masking etc). These assist the expressive qualities of the work while also defining shape and substance. Her work is certain and concise, expressive and atmospheric. In addition, light is confined inside the mass of colour, revealing atmospheres, establishing tones and contrast. Her works are ritualistic objects, with internal space frozen in time. They establish the rhythms of a moment attained. Narratives of landscape and natural event emerge: such as when rain is fallingvision becomes impaired,space becomes shortened and restricted.
Born 1967 London, Amsel currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1989 she gained a Bachelor of Arts, first class honours, in 3-D Design (ceramics and glass) with Middlesex Polytechnic, London and in 1991, a Masters in Glass with Royal College of Art, London. Amsel has exhibited in the USA, Spain, France, Netherlands and New Zealand including a significant solo show at Museo de Arte an Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain (2004). She is represented in numerous internationally significant collections, including Corning Museum (USA), Crafts Council Collection (London), Glasmuseet Ebeltoft (Denmark), Te Papa (NZ), Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), Ulster Museum (Ireland), Montreal Museum (Canada) and Glassammiung Ersting (Germany).
1 Dan Klein,“Frozen Moments in Time: The Work of Galia Amsel”,2004
2 Dan Klein,"Changing Views",2007
Flare 2 (2010)
GALIA AMSEL
b.1967,livesAuckland
EDUCATION
1989-91 Royal College of Art,MA Glass
1986-89 Middlesex Polytechnic,BA(Honours)3-D Design (ceramics and glass,first class honours)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 Shades of Blue and Clear, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2008 Axia Modern Art,Melbourne
2006 Masterworks Gallery, Auckland
2005 Milford Galleries, Queenstown
Masterworks Gallery, Auckland
2004 Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon,Madrid
Bullseye Connection Galllery,Portland,Oregon
2002 Bullseye Connection Gallery,Portland,Oregon
Clara Scremini,Paris
2001 Crafts Council at the V&A
1999 Clara Scremini,Paris
1997 Clara Scremini,Paris
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010 Capturing Light, Axia Modern Art
2008-2010 Glass Invitational NZ,Touring (Canterbury Museum,Milford Galleries Dunedin,Lopdell House, Auckland
2006 Koru Gallery, Hong Kong (September)
Axia Modern Art,Melbourne
2005 Glass Invitational NZ,Touring (Milford Galleries Dunedin, Auckland Museum, Canterbury Museum and Pataka Museum Wellington)
2001 15th Anniversary Show,Braggiotti Gallery Amstersam
2000 Studio Glass Gallery,London
1998 Jennifer Opie curated show, CAA
Jerwood Prize Shortlist Touring Exhibition,Crafts Council
1996 The Solomon Gallery, Dublin Venice Aperto Vetro
1995 Showcase,Contemporary Applied Arts
1994 Galerie L,Hamburg Showcase,Victoria & Albert Museum
1993 The Glass Show, Crafts Council Touring Exhibition Glass Show,the ScottishGallery,Edinburgh
1992 Le Verre,InternationalExhibition of Contemporary Glass, Rouen Galerie Rob Van den Doel,The Hague, Netherlands
1991 Museum of Mankind Showcase
COMMISSIONS
Design Portfolio, Carat Globe
Coopers and Lybrand/PricewaterhouseCoopers PLC Awards
Alternative Investment Market (AIM) Awards
Association of Business Sponsorship of the Arts (ABSA) Awards,British Museum Community Hospitals PLC
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines,P&O Cruises
Charity Awards
Lee Valley Regional Parks Authority Tottenham Marshes
Lee Valley Regional Parks Authority Three MillIsland
GaliaAmsel2011CV
Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz
AWARDS
2002 Nelson Woo Scholarship
2001 London Arts Development Award
London Arts Travel Award
British Council Exhibiting Grant
1999 Invitedto Crafts Council Selected Makers Index
1998 Shortlisted for Jerwood Prize
1993 Awarded Crafts Council Setting Up Grant
1990 Winner of Borax Prize
1989 Dudley Crystal Festival,Broadfield House Museum, 2nd
COLLECTIONS
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg,USA
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk,USA Corning Museum of Glass, NY,USA Crafts Council Collection, London Ebeltoft Museum,Denmark FitzwilliamMuseum,Cambridge Glassammlung Ersting,Coefeld-Lette, Germany
Mobile Museum of Art, Alabama, USA
Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Canada Musee du Verre,Sars Poteries,France Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon,Madrid, Spain
National Museum of Scotland,Edinburgh Palm Springs Museum of Art Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead Te Papa,Museum of New Zealand,Wellington Turner Museum, Sheffield Ulster Museum,Belfast Victoria & Albert Museum, London,X2
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2005 Corning New Glass Review 26,2005
21st Century British Glass, Dan Klein,2005
New Zealand Herald,16-2-05
New Zealand Listener,May 28-June 3 2005
Metro Magazine,July 2005
25 years of the New Glass Review,Tina Oldnow/Corning Museum of Glass
2004 Catalogue,Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid 2004 2002 Neues Glass Corning Glass Review No.23,2002
Object Magazine,October 2002
2000 Crafts Magazine,July/August 2000
1998 Crafts Magazine,July/August 1998
1997 Crafts Magazine,March/April 1997
1996 Crafts Magazine, September/October 1996
Interiors Magazine,September 1996
The Saturday Times Magazine,9/11/96
International New Glass, Venezia Aperto Vetro,1996
1993 Contemporary British Glass, Crafts Council,January 1993
1991 Conseil Regional de Haute Normandie, December 1991
1992 Neues Glass Corning Review No.13, February 1992
Le Verre,InternationalExhibition of Contemporary Glass 1990 Neues Glass Corning Review No.11, February 1990
Glasswork Magazine, Spring 1990
