Maison de Verre Verte: Arc
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Glasshouse/Greenhouse
Elizabeth Kelly
Lives and works in South Australia
Arc 2023 aluminium frame, hand rolled Italian green and gold coloured feature glass panes, and upcycled louvre glass panes, stainless steel plates, commercial fixings, glazing rubber
Courtesy of the artist
Elizabeth Kelly
b. 1960
“I had known about this Italian hand rolled glass used in the artwork since 2017. The green with gold glass panes had eluded me until Wagga Wagga Art gallery commissioned me to undertake the project under the umbrella of Glasshouse/Greenhouse: Maison de Verre Verte, in 2022.
I was given the louvres, as they had been sitting in a friend’s back yard for 15 years, just waiting to be upcycled rather than dumped into landfill. In this way, the use of found elements of commercial production glass is juxtaposed against the handmade, in complement.”
Elizabeth Kelly
Elizabeth Kelly
Elizabeth Kelly is an Australian artist whose work traverses the mediums of glass and sculpture. Her work in theme and practice is concerned with environmental sustainability, architecture and the built environment. Glasshouse/Greenhouse: Maison de Verre Verte: Arc is a major new work created with these considerations in mind.
Working with inspiration from early Australian Gothic styles, Kelly has worked mathematically, using the partial arcs of a circle, to form the arches of the glasshouse. The brilliance of colour in the repurposed glass juxtaposes the handmade with its original commercial purpose, illuminating the arc’s form. By choosing found materials, otherwise used in urban architecture, Kelly explores both the architectural form of the built environment and the materiality of the glass as it is reframed for its new purpose. Having worked for 35 years in hot glass making, Kelly is now moving away from the high energy consumption and fossil fuel reliant practice of glass making to specialise in specifically designed and crafted objects. At this pivotal moment in Kelly’s practice, Arc joins the National Art Glass Gallery collection, providing singularly powerful commentary on a warming planet.
“I have a responsibility to act within my own powers to do everything I can to save resources. It doesn’t stop me from expending resources, but it does mitigate against too much use of resources.”
Elizabeth Kelly
As part of Green 2023, Year of Environment Exhibitions and Programs, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery through the National Art Glass Gallery has commissioned a series of new works from contemporary Australian artists in consideration of the environmental climate crisis.
Between July and December the National Art Glass Gallery will exhibit two commissions from major Australian artists, Elizabeth Kelly with Glasshouse/Greenhouse: Maison de Verre Verte: Arc, and Sarah Goffman with Precious. These commissions have been generously supported by Wagga Wagga City Council, Create NSW and the Sir William Dobell Foundation, through the Dobell Exhibition Grant Program.
The comissioning of these artworks provides unique opportunities for the Gallery to work directly with contemporary artists as they develop new work for exhibition and collection. In the commissioning of Sarah Goffman, the artist was invited to respond to select works from the National Art Glass Collection. The creation and collection of major new works provides a platform for contemporary artists to create works in direct response to the gallery, the community and the collection, further enriching the region with their unique perspectives.
Dr Lee-Anne Hall DirectorArtist Interview
July 2023
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery’s Assistant Curator (Glass)
Micheal Scarrone sat down with artist Elizabeth Kelly to discuss Glasshouse/Greenhouse – Maison de Verre Verte: Arc exhibition after the installation of Arc in the National Art Glass Gallery. This is Kelly’s second solo exhibition at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, with three of Kelly’s works in the National Art Glass Collection. Arc is a commissioned work and will enter the Collection at the conclusion of the exhibition.
Michael: It’s great to welcome you back to the National Art Glass Gallery. How did you get into glass, why glass?
Liz: I come from an arts background, in my family although early on I was a musician before I was in Visual Arts. So, I had made things, I had been a fabricator with my father. He taught me how to weld, use steel, bend pipes and do assembly. I’d also worked with him on sculptures because he used to make very large sculptures in South Australia – before I went overseas for a number of years, I worked with fabricating large sculptures.
When I came back to Australia I was at a loss for about 4 years –what am I going to do? I relocated back to South Australia and at that time Don Dunstan had put in place this marvellous centre for craft excellence called the Jam Factory. They had traineeships in various media; textiles, leather, ceramics, glass. I applied for the glass department traineeship because I’d never seen very much glass making before. I trained for two years in blowing glass as a production blower and at the end of that I realised I actually needed to have an education in design fundamentals. I applied to go to art school and then transferred – from an Adelaide Art School having done a certificate there – to Canberra School of Art. There I started under the mantle of Klaus Moje in the glass department. After doing three years, of a four year degree, I moved to Sydney and started teaching at Sydney College of the Arts under Maureen Cahill. After a couple years of teaching I created a hot shop there; the first permanent hot shop. I had a budget of $5,000 and was expected to give change back. I begged, borrowed and stole from the industry in order to get that hot shop up. We had a hot glass program up and running. Prior to that they were using a portable furnace, which that travelled around the country.
After doing two years of teaching, I realised I actually wanted to study myself. I applied for a Masters degree at Sydney College of the Arts and I was lucky enough to be awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award - the first for Visual Arts at Sydney College.
I had two years of study as a Masters candidate. Sydney College of the Arts is a far more conceptual school than Canberra School of Art, which is more focused on crafts, aesthetics and process. Having a Masters degree in conceptual art actually gave me great standing to then explore more materials. I was materially specific for a long time but at Sydney College of the Arts I managed to swing into all sorts of other materials in sculpture.
Michael: The architectural and engineering potential of glass has always been of significance in your work. How did this come about?
Liz: Engineering is always an issue in sculpture. Because of the collaborative work I had done, I began to understand the relevance and importance of dimensioning when designing. When engineering specifically in metal you need really rigorous dimensioning in order to construct anything. I was also very interested in using moulds to process glass – pressing and drop casting – and in that sense, you really need to be across engineering to make those systems work. It naturally followed from there that the material itself is fundamental as a building block; it has enormous compressive strength and because of its colour, its actually perfectly suited for architecture. So, I moved into the sphere of architecture, working under an architect and producing works that were embraced in the canon of architecture and I was interested in those construction types. The early large works that I’d made, like the towers, are all about an enquiry into architecture and using that material as a building block for construction.
Michael: Multiple identical shapes have always been a theme in your work.
Liz: That’s right. You can vary them slightly and use the same mould over and over.
Michael: You’ve had an amazing career over 35 years with hot glass. You’ve now made the decision to turn the furnace off; to concentrate on sculpture, embracing the repurposing of various materials.
Liz: I’ve been moving away from running a furnace for a long time; down to the point where I’d run it for only a couple of weeks a year to cast out the elements to do sculptural work rather than having it on continually. It seemed to me to be just a waste of energy –and it’s so expensive – so it’s not possible. Energy consumption and flue emissions where always a really big part of my concern. Now it’s got to the point where I cannot justify turning it on anymore. Also, it’s physically draining doing that kind of work and being good at something means it’s taken a toll on my body.
Michael: Absolutely, glass blowing, casting and furnace work is a younger person’s sport in a way. Running a furnace and making it financially viable has always been a problem for someone that has a hot glass studio. Doing it for your own artwork doesn’t really make it pay and then to open it for access brings all other problems. For example, when do you get to use the studio, wear and tear and preparation of the studio.
Liz: Well, also mine was a singular purpose studio because I was casting coloured glass so it’s not what most hot glass studios do. To cast continual runs of coloured glass means it’s specifically set up for me and not for other people. There are other aspects about sharing a studio with people; I can understand running a furnace 24 hours a day and having people access it 24 hours a day, but that’s not actually how it works, you need to also allow time for loading, and other parts of the process.
Michael: Can you describe the inspiration behind your work Arc and how it was influenced by early Australian gothic architecture?
Liz: I visited a magnificent private chapel in Western Australia, the oldest private chapel in the country, which is still operational today. It is in the style of early Australian gothic and it was so unique. It didn’t smell like a church, it wasn’t powered. It had an adjoining cemetery which was still had recent burials in it, and I was enthralled by what made it quintessentially early Australian gothic. I asked myself what is it that makes this building gothic? The only thing I could pin down, and understand as gothic was the curvature of the arches; which is really how you see gothic architecture when it’s described.
So, Arc, the piece I made, refers to one type of gothic architecture. In terms of a gothic window, it’s the pointed lancet window, made up of sections of arches out of a circle joined together. They’re not all constructed in the same way but as you draw it up with a compass it has vanishing points on each side which intersect and you have a series of arches.
By using those forms of arches and a ratio tool I was able to develop a form which specifically related to the gallery, in terms of its dimensioning. It also meant that the glass house has a dramatically contemporary feel to it, rather than referring to the glass houses that we have seen before, being square, rectangular, or onion shaped. I’ve developed a form, specific to this, which is called Arc. So, the floor plan, the spine, and the front doorway are the three axes of the four and they are all based in the lancet arch. So that gives it its three dimensional from.
Michael: What considerations came into play when measuring your
glass waste for the project, as in you managed to keep the waste to approximately 7% by weight?
Liz: So, it comes down to the design of the piece. The underlying bones of the structure, that give it form, relate in three dimensions to the way that you construct that form. I had glass tiles that were 300 by 300, so if I had made an ‘onion’ or something like that I would have had too much waste. So in order to put a carapace on it using a maximum size of 300 by 300, and still develop the form so it followed the three dimensionality, meant that I needed to use a maximum size out of each tile. Because I was able to measure the weight, I can say quite clearly there is about 7-10% waste including the cut, so it was particularly in order to exploit the maximum area that I had of its finite proportion I had of this green glass tiles, handmade Italian tiles.
Michael: So, the size of the tile was directly relevant to the design of the piece.
Liz: Yes, that was the constraint.
Michael: Of that 7-10% waste, was any of that being recycled or going to the bin.
Liz: No, it hasn’t gone to the bin. If I’m not going to melt it, it will go into doing terrazzo or something like that.
Michael: The clear louvres are striking against the green glass tiles; they were in a friend of yours backyard for 15 years, how does incorporating these found elements contribute to the work and its overall narrative?
Liz: I was asked to think about sustainability, and even though I
don’t think glass makers have a sustainable practice, I think we can be conscious of waste and consumption and flue emissions.
I had finite stock of remnant Italian glass tiles to make the piece. There was never going to be enough to make the entire carapace, not to mention the aesthetic of being inside an entirely green room is a bit overwhelming. So, to break it up, I planned to use clear panes in tandem with it. No money means “lets think about how this comes about?” A friend offered me the louvres and at that point in the design stage I could incorporate them, even though they’re slightly different dimensions. They work with the piece, so it’s a desired upcycle of a found resource and an aesthetic decision; the two striations of colour work really well. The iron green of a louvre goes very well with the green hand rolled Italian tile. So aesthetically it works, and I can tick it off in terms of upcycling something. That’s the reason for the louvres.
Michael: Do artists have a responsibility to create sustainably?
Liz: I think that’s a personal choice. I think I do have a responsibility to act within my own powers to do everything I can to save resources. It doesn’t stop me from expending resources, but it does mitigate against too much use of resources.
Michael: You don’t think artists can be sustainable?
Liz: I don’t think so because we all have a footprint. It’s like asking us all to have sustainability in the way we live our lives. We can have a measured approach to how we consume things, but that’s not the same as a sustainable practice. My understanding of glass making is that you’re going to have a footprint; it has come from fossil fuels recently. We can move into battery powered, electric running of these apparatus but there’s still a cost involved in producing
those batteries, wiring it up, reconfiguring it all for new, rather than using the old and outdated equipment. Whichever way you cut it, you’re actually going to have a big footprint. It’s an energy hungry material unless you’re using found and recycled materials all the time. I could say my glass is found and recycled, but I cannot say that about the aluminium frame, and I would not have been able to construct it without that aluminium.
Michael: In helping you set this work up for the past week, the engineering is so critical because the overall object is a threedimensional shape with multiple glass sheets that are flat. You come from a hot glass perspective where you can make any shape you want, hence to go through this process where you’re making a three-dimensional object with flat glass must have had significant challenges?
Liz: It was a very big challenge and there was a time in the process where I wondered, can this actually be done? This comes back to the role of the artist; we are in a place of trying to push things all the time. We’re going to push boundaries; we’re going to push against conventional ways of doing things. An architect friend of mine had a look at what I have done and said, wow you’re working in three-dimensions in a curved space and flat plans! He said he can’t do that. That’s where an artist can come in and say well, I’m going to make it work. Over that scale, those tiles actually do work and do take up the three-dimensional form beautifully. It’s tessellated but it doesn’t look a-miss.
With thanks
Elizabeth Kelly:
Glasshouse/Greenhouse
Maison de Verre Verte: Arc
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
15 July 2023 - 14 January 2024
Morrow Street
Wagga Wagga NSW 2650
W waggaartgallery.com.au
P 02 6926 9660
E gallery@wagga.nsw.gov.au
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery is a cultural facility of Wagga Wagga City Council. Wagga Wagga Art Gallery is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.