Mariana Ortega (MX), Karlyn Sutherland (UK) and Tom Zogas (USA)

Mariana Ortega

Mariana has a Masters in Art from the Universidad Para el Desarrollo del Estado de Puebla Art (University for Development of the State of Puebla), Mexico. She works in a diverse range of disciplines including sculpture, woodcarving, ceramics, painting, tapestry and weaving. At the Instituto Allende in the City of San Miguel de allende, México, she began working with a combination of tapestry, weaving loom and photography. In 2015 she exhibited at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in Melbourne, the Hibrido Festival, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and the Tecnológico de Monterrey Santa Fe, Mexico.

In the pictures I have created I expose faces that express distress, sadness but at the same time the vibrant colours invite us to think that hope exist, that you can be happy, you can laugh, fall in love, and achieve what you propose in life.

Image courtesy of the artist: Mariana Ortega

Karlyn Sutherland

Currently an Endeavour Research Fellow in the Glass Workshop of the Australian National University, Canberra, Karlyn Sutherland studied architecture at Edinburgh College of Art  and the University of Edinburgh (Ph.D., 2014), where she received multiple awards. She began working in glass in 2009 when her research into the topics of place and attachment led her home to Lybster, Caithness. In addition to maintaining her creative practice as an artist, architectural designer and writer, Sutherland is a member both of the Craft Scotland Advisory Group and of the Board of Directors of Timespan, a museum and art gallery in Helmsdale, Sutherland. She is represented by Bullseye Projects, Portland, Oregon.

Central to my work, both in glass and architecture, is a long-standing interest in the bond between people and place; my practice explores this dialogue, with a particular focus on the characteristics of space that shape our memories and sense of attachment to our environment. Curiosity draws me to derelict, abandoned buildings that contain subtle clues to their history and past occupants. My work is a response to my experience of the intangible conditions of light and shadow created within and by these forms;  I use the hands-on act of making as a tool to try and understand my own  relationship with place.

Tom Zogas

Tom is currently producing a group of small scale containers and drinking vessels that are intended for use.  These objects are informed by a continued interest in the process-based nature of craft media, particularly that of wheel thrown ceramics.  By pairing the containers with photographic paper, some of their physical characteristics are translated into a two dimensional piece of supporting material.