with Ben Wright (USA)

As part of the 2017 Ausglass conference, in this workshop students will work individually, in small groups, and as a whole to find elegantly simple solutions to the complex art problems. Designed for artists and designers with little or no previous glass experience, this class will short cut lengthy learning curves and intelligently introduce a variety of direct paths towards incorporating the fantastic sculptural, physical and optical properties of glass into your existing practice.

The first three days of the class will discuss how best to manipulate the physical properties of glass and expose students to basic glass blowing and hot casting methods as well as cold carving, fabrication and imagery processes.  The final two days will be spent experimenting and applying these new studio tools to individual student’s projects and practices. Although we will cover a lot of technical ground, we will stay grounded in our search for direct form of expression and will embrace the importance of locating art at the intersection of the profound and the absurd.  No previous glass experience is required but curiosity and pleasure in problem solving are a must.

About Ben Wright

Ben Wright holds a BS in Evolutionary Biology from Dartmouth College, a BFA in Glass from the Appalachian Center for Crafts, and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design.  His background in Biology figures strongly in his artwork, which delves deeply into the every evolving relationship between humans and their environment.  Through work ranging from interactive visual installations to sonic landscapes he engages all of his viewer’s senses and often bridges the gap between art and science. 

Wright is both a thinker and a maker who has curated recent exhibitions at Islip museum and the American Museum of glass and has taught his unique approach to art making at numerous schools including Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Craft and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and abroad in Germany, Turkey, Denmark and Japan.  He is currently the Director of Education at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, New York.

Dates: 31 January - 4 February 2017
Times: 9am to 4pm, with access to R&D studio space 4-9pm
Cost: $800 (students enrolled full time in tertiary education program $600).
Skill level: Beginner and intermediate

To book, email richard.whiteley@anu.edu.au