commissed by The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA)
Ruth Allen
The work ‘Dancing at midnight’ by Ruth Allen is one of the shortlisted artworks on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022.
Allen’s multifaceted and multi-skilled approach reveals the nuances of human connection –physical and spiritual – in the context of a global pandemic.
“Through light, kinesis and the translucent medium of glass, this work illuminates the joyful choreography between individuals when they are able to share close proximity andinterpersonal harmony.” – Ruth Allen, artist statement.
Chick Butcher
The bright blue circle enveloped in black is the work ‘Seek and hide’ by Chick Butcher – winner of the Tom Malone Prize in 2009 with his work ‘Fundamentally red’ – and is one of the shortlisted works on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022.
Butcher demonstrates commitment to his craft by invariably creating work that strives for simplicity, although imbued with meaning and emotion.
Butcher harnesses interiority, describing his work as a direct result of intimate conversations with himself.
“These works are not a window into the outside world, rather; unhurried studies that derivefrom introspection.” – Chick Butcher
Matthew Curtis
Curtis’ meticulous approach allows him to yield hues of transparent colours that fade and gather in intensity, capturing depth and complexity.
‘Margin; uranium, clear, grey’ is one of the shortlisted works on exhibition for the TomMalone Prize 2022. The work serves as a subtle nod to the traditional glass blowing technique of sommerso (meaning submerged) – a technique used to create several layers of glass inside a single object, giving the illusion of “immersed” colours that lay on top of eachother without mixing. The work reflects upon the relationship between objects and ideas, the notion that, at times, one cannot live congruently without the other.
Wendy Fairclough
It matters deeply to artist Wendy Fairclough that her work is accessible to people from all walks of life and that they can bring their own meaning to the works.
Her work ‘Study for a landscape’ is one of the shortlisted works on display in the TomMalone Prize 2022. Drawing from a background of printmaking, sculpture and applied arts, Fairclough yields compositions and installations using blown and cast glass, cast bronzeand aluminium, and found objects.
“In this still life study I am refining light, colour, form and space to convey the quiet stillnessof an imagined landscape.” – Wendy Fairclough, artist statement.
Laurie Fossier Mills
Laurie Fossier Mills intently and intuitively explores the beauty and versatility of glass with her work ‘Meditation on a thousand pieces of glass...bowl and stand’, one of the shortlisted works on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022.
“Tessellation explores pattern possibilities. Intuition guides choice.” – Laurie Fossier Mills, artist statement.
Experimentation with form, colours and textures are subsumed in Mill’s fascination with glass and personal journey as an artist. Her purpose is to create work to be touched and contemplated.
Brenden Scott French
Brenden Scott French coalesces his interest in the weather balloon – a scientific tool that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed – with his prowess at working with blown and kiln-formed glass to create the inimitable work ‘Sounding balloon’ – one of the shortlisted works on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022.
“I’m interested in how the scientific recording of atmospheric pattern and rhythm – when collated and forecasted – influences our emotional responses to changing environments.” – Brenden Scott French, artist statement.
Marcel Hoogstad Hay
Let your eyes traverse their way through ‘Conduit’, the transfixing work by glass artist Marcel Hoogstad Hay – consecutive shortlisted artist for the Tom Malone Prize 2021 and 2022.
Hoogstad Hay’s work is influenced by his interest in the ways people perceive space, time and matter, and how we situate ourselves in the world as we move through it.
His process – blowing glass cylinders and slumping them open flat in a kiln to reveal theline-work inside – informs the work: the way glass moves when heated illustrates ideas of flow and movement, and the lines of cane stretched across each panel are like paths traced on a map.
Rita Kellaway
The arid and treeless tableau of her early and formative childhood continues to inspire glass artist Rita Kellaway:
“The nuanced beauty I first encountered there is a recurring theme as I purposefully workwith molten glass flow, colour reactions and organic three dimensional forms.” – RitaKellaway, artist statement.
‘Labyrinthine XIII’ is one of the shortlisted artworks on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022, following Kellaways’ work ‘Labyrinthine Vlll’, a shortlisted artwork in 2021. Together they demonstrate her intent to imitate a variety of geological processes including sedimentation; metamorphism; extrusion; and erosion, creating enigmatic artworks that are paradoxically fragile and strong, and subtle and bold.
Gerry King
Gerry Kings’ intricate two piece ‘Virtual vessel’ is a prime example of how Australian glass artists continue to invent and reinvent, and challenge themselves technically and artistically. Twenty years in the making, ‘Virtual vessel’ – one of the shortlisted artworks on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022 – started as a single form in 2005, and was reimagined in 2021 as a two-part form standing together as one. The work tempts to tease your notion of the relationship between two and three dimensional form.
Peter Kovacsy
Peter Kovacsys’ work reflects his home: Pemberton, the forest landscape and movement of light across natural phenomena, a place of immense inspiration for over fortyyears.
‘Forest sentinels’ is one of the shortlisted artworks showing in the Tom Malone Prize 2022, and shares Kovacsys’ ongoing fascination with wood and glass and the sublime synergy created when coalesced.
The work is a window into the outside world for Kovacsy, demonstrating how Australian glass artists find new frameworks to depict human experience in inimitable and enlivening ways.
“The ethereal movement of natural light within old growth Karri forest always inspires me.” – Peter Kovacsy, artist statement.
Jessica Murtagh
Glass artist Jessica Murtagh uses sandblasting and engraving techniques to create imagery and storytelling narratives on glass.
“It’s important to document common experiences and events in history as a visual record.” - Jessica Murtagh, artist statement.
Her work ‘Modern relic X: in this together’ is one of the shortlisted works on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022. Inspired by Athenian amphoras and depicting a prevalent experience from the beginning of COVID-19, Murtagh blends her interests in classical artefacts and contemporary themes. The work is her inimitable contribution to ensure we continue to confer with each other over significant events, and to not forget the past.
Emma Varga
‘Forces of nature – Rage #5 and Revival #6’ by Emma Varga is one of the shortlisted works on display in the Tom Malone Prize 2022, an indispensable duo standing side by side offering hope after destruction.
The two juxtaposing objects represent the destroyed landscape as a result of the raging bushfires in Australia, and the inherent ability nature has to revive itself. The work portrays Varga’s complex and arduous multiple-layer technique, alongside her new interest in pâtede verre.
Janice Vitkovsky
‘Shift/shifting’ by artist Janice Vitkovsky offers an immersive interaction between the viewer and object, and is one of the shortlisted works on exhibition in the Tom Malone Prize 2022.
Vitkovskys’ work focuses on conveying a sense of impermanence, constructing intricate patterns to form ambiguous landscapes in glass that examine perception.
“Using glass components and pattern designed to exploit the inherent transparent qualities of glass, I am exploring two-and-three dimensional space, looking at how they interrelate, drawing connections between how we perceive the world around us and the subtle shifts in the day-to-day.” – Janice Vitkovsky, artist statement.
These were originally published in 2022 the lead up to the exhibition.