G.W.Bot - Glass Glyphs
G.W.Bot is a printmaker, painter, sculptor and graphic artist who has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. Works created for this exhibition were made at Canberra Glassworks during her 2018 residency where she explored the ideas of language, symbols and materials.
G.W.Bot is a printmaker, painter, sculptor and graphic artist who has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. Works created for this exhibition were made at Canberra Glassworks during her 2018 residency where she explored the ideas of language, symbols and materials.
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G.W.BOT<br />
GLASS GLYPHS<br />
23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019<br />
1 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
From decades spent drawing thousands of quick sketches<br />
in the Australian landscape, I have devised an alphabet or<br />
language – a system of marks I call ‘<strong>Glyphs</strong>’.<br />
My work is intimately related to and has a sense of oneness with the<br />
landscape and our passage through it.<br />
I came to the Canberra <strong>Glass</strong>works last year on a residency. I was<br />
looking forward to working with the material that offered light.<br />
Over the years, I have been working with paper, canvas, bronze,<br />
steel and ceramics, each with its unique, earth qualities. The artist<br />
has to bring the light to these materials. <strong>Glass</strong>, on the other hand,<br />
is made of light that comes from the sea and carries that song. I<br />
also discovered while working with glass how fragile it can be. This<br />
can make it hard to work with but, once harnessed, it becomes<br />
a metaphor for the landscape, the Australian landscape we live<br />
in – at once resilient – how many fires, floods and droughts; the<br />
scarring by Nature herself does it endure and keep regenerating,<br />
but also how fragile at the same time. This fragility has been added<br />
to by humankind through mining, overdevelopment, incompetent<br />
politicians, wars and greed and something we call climate change.<br />
We are extinguishing the light of this land, this earth and it could<br />
become extinct as a result, which, in turn, would lead to our own<br />
extinction.<br />
In this installation, I have used glass, steel, bronze and ceramics to<br />
suggest the diversity and richness of the forest of languages of this<br />
landscape – each material is like a dialect, which adds voice to the<br />
protective whole. The glass glyphs emphasize the fragility of this<br />
earth and of ourselves even though the scale of a number of glyphs<br />
strives to suggest strength and majesty. <strong>Glass</strong>, for me, is also like a<br />
child – full of the light of possibilities - the child can grow if nurtured,<br />
but can break just as quickly. I think we stand on the edge of this<br />
reality at this point in time.<br />
‘<strong>Glass</strong> <strong>Glyphs</strong> - Glyph Song’, can also be read as a Crucifixion,<br />
a lament for all that contains the future of our lives, sung with<br />
morphic, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic glyphs.<br />
2 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
G.W.<strong>Bot</strong><br />
<strong>Glass</strong> <strong>Glyphs</strong> - Glyph Song<br />
2019<br />
glass, bronze, steel, ceramics<br />
courtesy of the artist and Beaver Galleries<br />
3 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
4 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
5 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
6 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
7 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
G.W.<strong>Bot</strong><br />
Tree of Life<br />
2019<br />
glass, bronze<br />
courtesy of the artist and Beaver Galleries<br />
8 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
9 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
G.W.<strong>Bot</strong><br />
Engraved Poem - Mountains, Clouds and <strong>Glyphs</strong>'<br />
2019<br />
glass, ceramics, stainless steel<br />
courtesy of the artist and Beaver Galleries<br />
10 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
11 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
Exhibition partners<br />
Canberra <strong>Glass</strong>works is supported by the ACT Government through artsACT and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.<br />
Sponsor Exhibition accomodation partner Wine partner<br />
Cover image<br />
G.W.<strong>Bot</strong>, Engraved Poem - Mountains, Clouds and <strong>Glyphs</strong>', detail, 2019, glass, ceramic, stainless steel.<br />
Courtesy of the artist and Beaver Galleries<br />
Photographs: Brenton McGeachie<br />
12 | G.W.BOT - GLASS GLYPHS | 23 MAY TO 23 JUNE, 2019
canberraglassworks.com<br />
11 Wentworth Ave, Kingston ACT 2604<br />
T 02 6260 7005<br />
E contactus@canberraglassworks.com<br />
opening hours<br />
Wed to Sun 10am to 4pm
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