Glassblowing

B. Jane Cowie | Beginners to Intermediate

Session: 6/2005 14 - 27 August

Glassblowing is a fun and fluid dance with material. This class which is designed for beginners and those with some blowing experince, will be an intensive learning period that is challenging and exciting. Getting hot in the hot glass studio will be the aim of the workshop with as much hands' on experience as possible. The course will start with basic exercises where the students learn the basic movement and flow of the material while becoming familiar with the equipment and each other. Predominately the focus will be on the bubble. Bubbles will be blown; lots of them, big, small, thin and thick. Students will also pull glass rods, sculpt the glass, melt in colour and begin to creatively explore their ideas in glass. During this intensive course, glass vessels and objects will be made, created, collected and assembled. They will be precious, extraordinary, weird and even crazy using the clear furnace glass and available coloured powders, glass rod colour and coloured glass chips. Gravity, heat and centrifugal force are the main tools the students will use. Learning will occur through repartition and the fundamentals of team working will be explored. Emphasis will be on posture and a philosophical understanding of the material and how it moves.

Jane Cowie Tumble for Mr Ramsey    Displaced exhibition

B.Jane Cowie

B.Jane Cowie has been working with glass for over 20 years. She studied at Sydney College of the Arts, Australia, and was awarded a degree in the Visual Arts in 1983. Currently she is undertaking a Masters Degree in Visual Arts at the University of South Australia. Her strong commitment to her work, desire to learn and interest in glass making has inspired her to travel extensively. Cowie has worked in numerous glass studios and factories in England, Europe, USA and Japan to develop technical skill and an understanding of the glass. B.Jane Cowie exhibits her work widely in Australia, Asia and the USA, and is included in numerous pubic and private collections. She is a founding member of the Blue Pony Studio in Adelaide, has recently taught at Bild-Werk Glass School in Germany and was the President of Ausglass: the Australia Association of Glass Artists organizing the Isolation:Collaboration Conference, held in Perth 2003. She recently relocated to Singapore where she now lives and works. Her move was inspired by a desire to learn more about glass and art in the South East Asian region. In Singapore, she continues to develop her practice as an internationally renowned glass artist and designer/maker.