This exhibition showcases a visual arts practice, which challenges the traditional notion of art glass. Australian glass artist, B. Jane Cowie uses such material and collected objects as an exploration of a personal history, now somewhat displaced in her new home in Singapore.
Objects of nostalgia and other souvenirs
Solo Exhibition by Australian Glass Artist, B. Jane Cowie
This exhibition showcases a visual arts practice, which challenges the traditional notion of art glass. Australian glass artist, B. Jane Cowie uses such material and collected objects as an exploration of a personal history, now somewhat displaced in her new home in Singapore. The work investigates current influences which effect Cowie in Singapore, including recently discovered souvenirs from the local cultures, which are exhibited alongside with the collections she has carried from Australia. Objects trigger memories of the past and explore notions of nostalgia to address common concerns relevant to everyone in current culture. In 2003, Cowie relocated to Singapore where she now lives, works and continues her practice as an internationally artist, designer and educator. This exhibition, which features her latest body of work, combines hot sculptured glass figures and hand blown glass with cast bronze, engraved aluminum canvases, found objects and collected artefacts. Together the work references childhood memories, nostalgia and a romanticism of the past. Pattern and decorative surfaces are triggers for Cowie of her memories and reminisces of a childhood growing up on the South Coast of New South Wales. Collections accumulated by Cowie s grandmother are included in the exhibition as art works in themselves to illustrate the dichotomy of the everyday and the art that surrounds us all. The exhibition provides an exploration of nostalgic objects, offering a surprising collection of souvenirs carrying more meaning than initially expected.
ARTIST S STATEMENT
My interest in the domestic surfaces, lino and wallpaper, allude to notions of home and a family history. Etched into memory, these nostalgic images powerfully describe a childhood past. In the exhibition I experiment with these decorative patterns that provide a sense of the cozy family home, but what lurks behind this facade of romanticism?
Thermos, picnic cases and aluminum cups invoke memories of the Australian escape from the city home to lunch in nature, in a park, or by the roadside in the country. These escapes from the security of home are accompanied with special utilitarian objects, vessels only to be used in these outdoor settings. Objects, carried for the specific convenience of the picnic meal have become populist objects with surface designs that provide a sense of the past that reinforces their symbolic nature and nostalgic relevance.
These collected and carried objects, displaced into a new context, Singapore, will become strange and unfamiliar in the gallery setting. Further these objects will take on new meanings to influence new understandings of locally familiar memories of the past. Family, being the critical core in every culture, will be the undisclosed focus of the exhibition and the display will ignite memories of those visiting to think more about their own past and about the objects that are familiar to them.
The work directly references my preceding generation, relatives that have only recently left. It is now a Christmas ritual to visit the cemetery, which echoes the passing of time and offers distant childhood memories. As the last of my older relative dies, so too does an era. The exhibition displays works that are dislocated yet continue to imbue a sense of history and culture. I remember the times as a child in my grandmother s and great aunt s homes lying on the lino floor to cool down during hot summer nights, the exotic smell of brewing coffee and the sweet temptation of home made biscuits recalls a bliss that is rarely found in current life.
The work exemplifies the importance of celebrating our past as it continues to be displaced by time and new economic developments. Transparent, smooth, soft, flowing and fragile figures are fashioned in glass and nestle within the comforts of familiar objects from a distant home.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
B. Jane Cowie is a well-established Australian glass artist who has been working with art glass for over 20 years. Her strong commitment to her artwork, desire to learn and passion for glass has inspired her to travel extensively. She has developed a high level of technical skill, knowledge and understanding of glass while working in numerous glass studios and factories in England, Europe, USA and Japan. Cowie owned and operated her own studio situated in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia for a number of years. She has been a Board Member of prominent craft associations, including President of Ausglass: the Australian Association of Glass Artist Ltd for two years and is the founding member of the blue pony studio and east coast studio glass workshop.
Opening Date : Thursday, 15 July 2004, 7.00pm
Dates : 16 - 24 July 2004
Guest-of-Honour : Mr. Michael Wood, Deputy Australian High Commissioner
Public Viewing : Monday to Friday, 11am 7pm; Saturday, 11am 5pm. Closed on Sunday.
Admission : Free
Supported by : Australian High Commission, Brewerkz Singapore, and Chalimax Engineering
Venue : SG Private Banking Gallery, Alliance Francaise de Singapour, 4th Floor 1 Sarkies Road, Singapore 258130 (Newton MRT, parking facilities)