Fusing & Kilncasting

ETSUKO NISHI

Fun to Vessel; A Double-Wall Ceramic Fiber Mold for Pate de Verre
In this fusing & kilncasting course, the main focus will be on the pate de verre technique. Etsuko Nishi will introduce ceramic fiber as a new material for mould making. Although ceramic fibre has generally been used for insulation, this thesis introduces a new use of ceramic fibre as a mould material in Pate de Verre. The proposed mould material and production techniques have technically extended the possibility of expression. This enables the creation of designs that are previously thought to be problematic when plaster is being used. The design, which has been difficult to be made, such as double and triple layered work, can be now produced by the proposed method in this program. Furthermore, slender and thin work (i.e. 2mm thin) in Pate de Verre can be also created.

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Etsuko Nishi

Etsuko Nishi holds graduate degrees from Mukogawa University of Japan, the Canberra School of Art in Australia and the Royal College of Art in England. She has taught at Urban Glass and Pilchuck Glass School, Takushoku University, and currently is a lecturer in Osaka Art University in Japan. She is a successful independent artist exhibiting internationally and her works are in much museum collection around the world including the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in Japan, the Coburg Museum in Germany, the Smalands museum in Sweden, Muses des Rts Dcoratifs in France, and the Corning Museum in the US. She is also one of the ex GAS Guest Demonstrating Artists. She started using glass in the early 1980s, and made square and planar objects. In the beginning, African textiles and traditional American quilts influenced her work. The qualities, which she wanted to translate from fabric into glass, were softness and tenderness. Later on, she created translucent three-dimensional objects, which allowed the transmission of faint and soft light, movement, and an impression of gentleness. The second source of inspiration for her was a diatretum, a Roman cage cup dating from the 4th century, in which the inner shell was made of transparent glass enclosed by a free-standing outer cage of interlocking rings of colored glass, creating an amazing effect as if the inner bowl is floating in the air.

* An additional US$20 registration fee is charged during application

** The amount of deposit to be paid is US$320