This solo exhibition is twelve months in the making and presents an innovative new body of work by this extraordinary artist, Mel Douglas.
Curators, contemporaries and critics consider Mel Douglas to be one of Australia’s most dynamic artists working in glass. She has had continued success since graduating from the renowned Australian National University, School of Art, Glass Workshop. Douglas has exhibited consistently in many group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally including the United States of America, Singapore and Italy. Douglas has been featured in numerous publications and her work is held in such prestigious permanent collections as the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia and the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning New York, USA.
Her delicate, subtle work comes from the slow process of engraved mark making that is influenced by the objects physical and linear relationships. Douglas’ mastery of her craft is highly regarded and has earned her many awards including the 2002 Ranamok glass prize as well as the International Young Glass Award, Ebeltolft.
The simplicity of my work suggests stillness and silence, a meditation on the elements and concepts of light, space and time.
I am interested in the space that surrounds an object, space that is able to hold and suspend. Exploring how objects balance and sit in space, holding on to that last moment of silence and stillness before they spill over. The engraved lines of light add to this tension, tilting the objects off center. This sense of anticipation generates tension between the object and the surrounding space.
Each line is a unique mark defining a physical shape; it is a contour, a stroke and an outline.
Mel Douglas, 2013
