Exhibitions

Sabbia Gallery is pleased to present this long awaited and extraordinary solo exhibition of new works in glass by Kirstie Rea.

As an independent artist, Kirstie’s work over the past 35 years has investigated her exploration of the Australian bush environment beyond the urban fringe. At the core of this investigation lies a desire to seek an understanding of our often-tenuous connections to place. Walking in these places, seeking solitude and distance from the everyday, Kirstie has drawn on her photography and writing to inform her making. Recent years have seen her turn to spending considerably more time in the garden where the delights of seasons and nature, of growing and producing have given her as much reward as the bush walks of previous years. Inspiration from the interconnectedness within nature, alongside simple garden narratives are embedded in recent works.

Having established her studio in 1987, following her graduation from the Glass program at the Canberra School of Art, Kirstie has continued to develop her practice to become internationally recognised and respected for her works in glass. She was a lecturer in the Glass Workshop, Australian National University from 1987-2003, and was the inaugural Creative Director at Canberra Glassworks. Teaching and mentoring have played a major role in Kirstie’s arts practice. She has taught in her field of kiln formed glass and cold working techniques across the world since 1987.
Kirstie’s glass practice has been recognised by awards such as the Ausglass Honorary Life Membership Award (2009), the artsACT Creative Arts Fellowship (2004), the CAPO Fellow Award (2014), the Canberra Glassworks Fellowship (2016), the Klaus Moje Glass Award and most recently a World Crafts Council Asia Pacific Region, Craft Master Award (2024).

“The garden – another room of my studio. I share this space with nature, in the company of the seasons, of weather and the wildlife of this place. It offers form, colour, line, energy and reward each day. I nurture seeds and plants as I nurture ideas in the studio.

Complexity and variety nourished with effort and return, a reminder of the importance for daily connections to our natural world.

The trellis – a framework for what inhabits and flourishes in this place, a structure for a collaboration with nature, remind me of structures I create in the kiln for a collaboration with glass.

These works in glass abstract the awe and surprise that is found in nature, in the garden, things that delight and offer us a sense of wonder”.

Kirstie Rea, 2024