F!NK alternative jug project
27 August - 17 October 2020 Alex Asch | Chick Butcher | Bengt Cannon | Scott Chaseling | Cobi Cockburn | Cesar Cueva | Matthew Curtis | Xanthe Gay | Marie Hagerty | Jess Higgins | Alison Jackson | Harriet Schwarzrock | Louise Scrivener | Tom Skeehan | Brian Tunks F!NK alternative jug project is a collaborative exhibition which pays homage to the late Robert Foster, designer and founder of F!NK + Co, who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2016 and is deeply missed. F!NK has a long history of collaborating, mentoring and supporting fellow artists, designers and craftspeople. In 1993, F!NK was established by Foster in Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia, with the aim of creating a design and manufacturing business that would support and generate opportunities for Australian designer-makers. Joined by Gretel Harrison in 1995, together they built F!NK into the business it is today – a much loved and respected Australian design company with an international reputation for producing world-class tableware, hollowware, jewellery and lighting. F!NK invited 15 creatives with a direct connection to Robert and/or F!NK over the past 27 years to reimagine the iconic F!NK jug with the intent to be included in the F!NK collaborative jug project auction earlier in the year. Two blank F!NK jugs were provided to each artist with which to begin. The first set of finished bespoke artworks created as a result of this collaboration were sold in the online auction to raise funds for charity. Due to the success of the live auction, Craft ACT invited F!NK to showcase the alternative designs in the F!NK alternative jug project exhibition to allow people to view this wonderful collaboration in person.
27 August - 17 October 2020
Alex Asch | Chick Butcher | Bengt Cannon | Scott Chaseling | Cobi Cockburn | Cesar Cueva | Matthew Curtis | Xanthe Gay | Marie Hagerty | Jess Higgins | Alison Jackson | Harriet Schwarzrock | Louise Scrivener | Tom Skeehan | Brian Tunks
F!NK alternative jug project is a collaborative exhibition which pays homage to the late Robert Foster, designer and founder of F!NK + Co, who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2016 and is deeply missed. F!NK has a long history of collaborating, mentoring and supporting fellow artists, designers and craftspeople. In 1993, F!NK was established by Foster in Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia, with the aim of creating a design and manufacturing business that would support and generate opportunities for Australian designer-makers. Joined by Gretel Harrison in 1995, together they built F!NK into the business it is today – a much loved and respected Australian design company with an international reputation for producing world-class tableware, hollowware, jewellery and lighting.
F!NK invited 15 creatives with a direct connection to Robert and/or F!NK over the past 27 years to reimagine the iconic F!NK jug with the intent to be included in the F!NK collaborative jug project auction earlier in the year. Two blank F!NK jugs were provided to each artist with which to begin. The first set of finished bespoke artworks created as a result of this collaboration were sold in the online auction to raise funds for charity. Due to the success of the live auction, Craft ACT invited F!NK to showcase the alternative designs in the F!NK alternative jug project exhibition to allow people to view this wonderful collaboration in person.
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Matthew Curtis<br />
Artist statement<br />
This wonderful <strong>project</strong>, initiated by Gretel,<br />
celebrates not only the iconic F!<strong>NK</strong> <strong>jug</strong>,<br />
but the connections, vitality and richness<br />
of Robert Foster’s legacy. I have been<br />
contemplating a time I spent with Robbie;<br />
at ‘Collect’ at the Victoria and Albert<br />
Museum, London. It was impossible not<br />
to gravitate toward him, generous and<br />
enthusiastic, he seemed as comfortable<br />
in that environment as in the studio. In<br />
approaching this <strong>project</strong>, I am revisiting<br />
a series of blown glass work from that<br />
time. Where I was pursuing the vessel<br />
form. I blew overlaid veneers of coloured<br />
glass, which were cold worked in order<br />
to achieve an opaque surface. I marked a<br />
grid upon the surface. At the intersecting<br />
points, drilled through the opaque surface<br />
with diamond drill bits, to reveal the<br />
transparent interior of the vessel.<br />
Investigating and working with this<br />
iconic vessel and working with anodised<br />
aluminium reveals a different play of light<br />
upon the surface.Locating this grid onto a<br />
sacrificial form references the engineering<br />
and machining that lies behind the<br />
processes at F!<strong>NK</strong>. The polished and<br />
perforated wrap protects and celebrates<br />
this adaptable material. It feels like a good<br />
fit with the tight engineering aesthetic that<br />
you find at F!<strong>NK</strong>.<br />
Biography<br />
Matthew Curtis began his career through<br />
a studio traineeship at Denizen studio<br />
in Sydney in 1991. Working hands-on in<br />
the studio led to understanding many<br />
aspects of glass to explore form, line<br />
and light. Since then he has established<br />
his home studio with partner Harriet<br />
Schwarzrock in Queanbeyan NSW. He<br />
has exhibited internationally for over 25<br />
years, participated in prestigious art fairs<br />
such as Chicago’s ‘Sculptural Objects and<br />
Functional Art’ Fair, at Palm 3 and ‘Collect’<br />
at the V&A, as well as many successful<br />
solo exhibitions. His work is also widely<br />
collected, in Private collections such as<br />
Sir Elton John and Public collections<br />
Including the National Gallery of Australia<br />
and the Wagga Wagga, National Glass<br />
Collection.<br />
Opposite: Matthew Curtis, Perforate, 2020, scotch brite<br />
aluminium <strong>jug</strong> with hand engraved, polished aluminium<br />
shield and hand polished powder coated handle. Photo:<br />
DMC Photography<br />
27
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