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Artist of the Month, July 2008
Ben Edols and Kathy Elliot
Waratah
Blown and cold-worked glass, 11¾" x 11¼" dia.
Click on the small images below to enlarge.
| Artists Ben Edols and Kathy Elliot, partners in life and work, make unique and elegant glass sculptures that marry simple minimalist forms with rhythmic, contrapuntal carved surfaces to suggest a sense of counterpoint. They have been working together since meeting at school in 1993, and during the past fifteen years, their collaborative work has evolved to capture light and vibrant color, as well as the patterns and forms found in nature. |
Edols, the glass blower of this team, received his Bachelor of Arts from Sydney College of the Arts and a Graduate diploma from the Canberra School of Art in 1992. He attributes his techniques to Venetian traditions and contemporary mentors like Lino Tagliapietra and Dante Marioni. A vibrant personality, Edols enjoys the challenges of working with hot glass, and said in an interview with Sydney Magazine that it provides “immediate gratification” to his “impatient side.” |
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The blown form is not complete; rather it is a canvas for Elliot to transform through coldworking. Elliot discovered a love of glass at a young age, but dabbled in a variety of studies ranging from dressmaking to philosophy. She settled on studying glass and coldworking at the age of 23 after she received her Bachelor of Arts from the Canberra School of Art in 1991, when she met Edols. Today, as she polishes and grinds the blown forms that her husband creates, “[she] accentuates and stylizes the fluidity and grace of the blown form, and creates a translucent skin of exquisitely fine surface markings to entrap the light, igniting the luminous colors within,” writes Margot Osbourne, author of Australian Glass Today.
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Spending time together studying in the United States after their undergraduate and graduate studies in Australia, they were CGCA fellows at WheatonArts and worked at Urban Glass. It was at Urban Glass where Elliot came to love coldworking while Edols refined his techniques.
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Today Edols and Elliot live and work by the beach in their Sydney studio. Their work explores design and color through a contemporary and imaginative vision. Fascination with nature and its patterns dictates their current creative stage. Botanical forms such as the eucalyptus leaves of the trees surrounding their workshop are emulated in their new Reclining Leaf series. |
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Experts and collectors throughout the world recognize Edols' and Elliot’s work. They visit America every year to participate in or teach workshops at Pilchuck Glass Studio and The Studio at Corning Museum. Their work is exhibited in a number of galleries through the United States, Japan, Europe, and Australia. Most recently Edols visited Pittsburgh for the opening of gesture& cadence and attracted a large audience at his Pittsburgh Glass Center demonstration, and his gallery talk at morgan contemporary glass gallery, where their work is currently on exhibition. |
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Kathy Elliot and Ben Edols
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We are grateful to Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, for providing the materials for the Artist of the Month.
The Artist of the Month for July will be Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott, with materials provided by Marta Hewett Gallery.
Click here to return to Artists Of The Month index.
last updated on 20 june 2008.
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