Luminous Surface - Under a Southern Light was exhibited at the SOFA 2004 international exposition in Chicago. This exhibition was presented by the JamFactory as part of a Craft Organisations of Australia program of international promotion for Australian contemporary craft and design. Curated by Pauline Griffiths the exhibition included works by glass artists Benjamin Sewell from NSW and Tim Edwards from South Australia as well as jewellery by Marion Hoskings from Victoria and Belinda Newick from South Australia.

The following is the catalogue essay written by Stephen Bowers, Managing Director, JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design Centre.

Australian Contemporary

Luminous Surface - Under a Southern Light

"I love a sun burnt county". So writes the Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar in her classic poem My Country. It is no surprise that many Australian writers, poets and artists also define national identity and experience of life from the perspective of a land seen as a sun-struck place - where the glint of light on water sparkles, the shadows of the bush are elusive, the skies brilliant and the mix of colours produces a contrast of bright blue skies, deep red ochres and the soft pearly greys and greens of eucalyptus.

Australia, the "island continent", is known for its many different terrains and for the inspirational quality of its light. Perhaps the properties of luminosity in Australia result from its southerly aspect, from being "down under", set within the vast reflecting expanses of ocean that surround it or from the constant proximity of the open deserts of its interior. Whatever the cause, Australian light is a phenomenon, a source of artistic expression and a common theme in Australian literature and art.

Writers like Patrick White (Voss), Tim Winton (Dirt Music) and Thea Astley (Drylands) amongst many others, have described and explored identity shaped and formed by this somewhat strange, bright land with its sparkling beaches, vast red centre and luminous outback. This is a land where human settlement hugs the coast, where tracks peter out in the sand, where trees drop limbs in the still heat of the day and leaves hang down rather than spread out, providing only filtered shade. Their stories tell of people mesmerised by the glint of light on water, wanderers in a land that at times appears to be bleached by an arid kind of light, where whirlwinds dance on the plains and treeless horizons are washed out in a haze of luminosity.

Without the culture of the traditional Aboriginal Owners and their ancient connections to the land, contemporary Australians have to make a personal journey of discovery to reach an understanding or achieve spiritual connection with the land. Living under Southern skies, Australian visual artists also need a different palette to respond to Southern light. They must use materials which will shine and glow, and allow them to capture the reflections and colours of Australia.

Artists presented by Australian Contemporary at SOFA 2004 use their different mediums and approaches to explore aspects of luminosity. Their works speak to us in a symbolic language of shine, shadow and reflection as they examine relationships of dimension and contrast qualities of surface and texture.

The artists are: Tim Edwards Glass Artist (South Australia), Marian Hosking Contemporary Jeweller (Victoria), Belinda Newick Contemporary Jeweller (South Australia) and Benjamin Sewell Glass Artist (New South Wales).

Each artist has been selected for their ability to use the subtle interplay between shifting effects of light on different surfaces of glass or metal.

Working with both traditional techniques and contemporary manufacturing methods each artist has evolved an individual approach to creating objects that express personal perceptions and evoke particular memories. Their aim is to create distinctly original works that relate metaphorically to cultural experience or reflect on the natural environment.

There is a suggestion of the poetic in the differing stories of these artists. Forms find voice and surfaces speak by reflecting, mimicking and echoing one another.

Carefully considered volumes and dimensions allow us to perceive connections and encourage us to imagine other linkages. Relationships are established and a kind of kinship is created - a kinship born of luminosity and the underlying poetics of the play of light in the imagination of the artists.

Tim Edwards (South Australia) is rapidly gaining recognition through the incredible impact that his luminous vessel forms have on audiences. Tim, who has worked with glass for the past decade, comes from a practical farming background and this, combined with many years developing his skill and reputation as a potter, influences his rationale and his forms. Tim's work has a strong sense of the power and strength of the vessel, which is then used as a vehicle to record and express his rural experiences and memories drawn from his experiences of life on the land.

Inspired by the vast landscape of southern Australia, and his own experience of working in its great expanses of open space punctuated by the shifting play of light and shadow on the undulating horizon, Tim transforms this sensory information into abstract shapes that become metaphors for a more personal environment.

Tim's forms are 'free blown'; using a bold overlay technique to create a tough "skin" of colour on the outer surface. Like a pioneer farmer surveying the land and allocating his fields, Tim's vessel forms are "mapped" with confidently drawn contour designs using a cutting lathe to boldly hand carve the surface. After this form of "ploughing", Tim works back over the surface, using the careful application of a stone-grinding wheel to create a soft subtle textural surface. The finished forms are arranged in pairs, the clear elements of positive surface and negative space symbolising ideas of connection and relationships.

Marian Hosking (Victoria) is an artist with an extensive career and over 30 years experience as a jeweller and silversmith. Her work has been exhibited to acclaim throughout Australia and her reputation and stature as an international artist continues to grow.

Marian's inspiration comes from the natural environment and the intense light that floods the Australian bush.

With the benefit of intensive practice Marian has developed a personal vocabulary through her work to express a specific vision and interpretation of the qualities of Australian light. She uses the drill and jeweller's saw with multiple castings and favours the soft white sheen of metal silver, with its evasive highlights and shifting shadows to create brilliant individual pieces.

In some of Marian's finely crafted pieces silver and mother of pearl create surface, light and shadow, while other layers obscure material that glimmers, like sunlight filtered through a screen of leaves or reflected on water.

Marian's works symbolically re-affirm her love of the natural world and her observations of the intense sunstruck clarity of the Australian bush. Her depictions of specific plants and bird species represent the influence of time spent dwelling in special places and express her responses to both the familiar and the strange in her environment. Marian sees the close association that jewellery has with the human body as a further source of inspiration and regards her work as an excellent vehicle for the expression of sentiment and memory.

Belinda Newick (South Australia) is an ascendant young studio-based jeweller, whose work explores cultural hybridity and diversity, researching notions of connection and belonging between people and place.

Inspired by the rich experiences of her travels and involvement in other cultures, Belinda mixes references to language, diverse materials and textures in her jewellery. She combines ancient traditional Oriental handcrafting techniques with computer-aided processes to explore the refraction of light and its impact on the surface of things.

Belinda's jewellery and other works designed for the body are intimate in scale. Using computer engraving to create decorative webs of fine text, Belinda invites or draws in the wearer or viewer with the rewards of closer inspection. Belinda explores language by exposing layers and ambiguities of meaning translated onto metals in the form of detailed texture on surface, in either handwritten or computer generated text.

With such subtle surface techniques applied to her work, Belinda's objects and jewellery evoke the emotions and memories of her life journeys.

Benjamin Sewell (New South Wales) graduated from Curtin University, Western Australia before moving across the continent to Canberra for further studies at the Australian National University. He is now based in New South Wales.

Ben's work examines the concept of balance from the stance of an internal journey. His work also explores the different ways it is possible to reach a destination and the influence of the physical environment. The surfaces of each object Ben creates are used to illustrate this duality. Ben strives for balance by using graphic qualities on both sides of each piece to draw together the different elements present in the work.

Ben's forms are free blown, with the surface carved to create a richer field of engagement for the senses. His provocative forms create a powerful sense of space and luminosity, mirroring the effect of the external environment on an individual, internal journey - reflecting his own maturity as an artist who has traversed the vastness of Australia and been inspired by its astonishing variety and shifting light.

AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY - Luminous Surface - Under a Southern Light at SOFA 2004 is an initiative of the Visual Arts/Crafts Board of the Australia Council, the Federal Government's Arts funding body, through its International Craft Strategy.

The International Craft Strategy aims to present the work of Australian craftpeople in major events including Collect (London), Talente (Munich), SOFA (Chicago) and Designer's Block (Tokyo) and is managed by JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design, Adelaide, South Australia in cooperation with Craft Organisations Australia.

JamFactory and the artists involved gratefully acknowledge the support and assistance of the Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia Council.

JamFactory also gratefully acknowledges the generous support and enthusiastic assistance of the artists and Arts SA.

Stephen Bowers, Managing Director
JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design