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Essence of Cloud

25 March - 22 May 2021 Mark Eliott Essence of Cloud is a multi-faceted solo exhibition featuring the work of glass artist Mark Eliott. This exhibition will be comprised mainly of Glass objects but also text, mixed media, watercolour sketches, performance, music, scent and animation. Through this exhibition, a story of research into a sublime substance called cloud essence, spanning five centuries, will unfold. This exhibition represents a major turning point in Eliott’s career as a long-form body of work, which delves deeply into narrative, and character development through detailed articulation of an imagined family history that at some points intersects with the real.

25 March - 22 May 2021

Mark Eliott

Essence of Cloud is a multi-faceted solo exhibition featuring the work of glass artist Mark Eliott. This exhibition will be comprised mainly of Glass objects but also text, mixed media, watercolour sketches, performance, music, scent and animation. Through this exhibition, a story of research into a sublime substance called cloud essence, spanning five centuries, will unfold. This exhibition represents a major turning point in Eliott’s career as a long-form body of work, which delves deeply into narrative, and character development through detailed articulation of an imagined family history that at some points intersects with the real.

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Mark Eliott<br />

Craft ACT Craft + Design Centre


Mark Eliott<br />

Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre is supported by the ACT<br />

Government, the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy – an initiative<br />

<strong>of</strong> the Australian State and Territory Governments, and the<br />

Australia Council for the Arts – the Australian Government’s arts<br />

funding and advisory body.<br />

CRAFT ACT CRAFT + DESIGN CENTRE<br />

Tues–Fri 10am–5pm<br />

Saturdays 12–4pm<br />

Level 1, North Building, 180 London Circuit,<br />

Canberra ACT Australia<br />

+61 2 6262 9333<br />

www.craftact.org.au<br />

Cover: Mark Eliott, <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> bottles large tonic<br />

and small fragrance with funnel, circa 1870 -2018.<br />

Photo: Richard Weinstein.<br />

Page 4-5: Mark Eliott, <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> Artifact<br />

Collection, 2018. Photo: Mark Eliott<br />

Craft ACT Craft + Design Centre<br />

25 March - 22 May 2021<br />

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4 5


<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> cloud<br />

Exhibition statement<br />

<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> is a whimsical tale<br />

<strong>of</strong> intrigue, fantasy and earth repair<br />

written by a glassblower. It hovers over<br />

a family history – shamelessly inventing,<br />

embellishing, and occasionally alighting<br />

on the truth. Five centuries and seven<br />

countries are traversed in pursuit <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong><br />

<strong>Essence</strong>: a rare and almost indetectable<br />

substance purported to induce subtle yet<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>ound changes in the sniffer or taster;<br />

including elation, longevity, insight and<br />

most significantly, an increase in empathy<br />

towards other living things.<br />

The project has two main components:<br />

a multi-faceted art exhibition and a<br />

soon-to-be-released novel: the prologue<br />

<strong>of</strong> which is provided in the show as a<br />

teaser. The exhibition: on the theme <strong>of</strong><br />

clouds and loosely illustrating the story,<br />

features hand-made glass objects and<br />

mixed-media installations comprised <strong>of</strong><br />

wood, scent, animation, sound and found<br />

objects. Some works take the form <strong>of</strong><br />

relief and 3d dioramas, whilst others are<br />

displayed more like museum artifacts.<br />

The show opens with a talk about cloud<br />

essence including a demonstration <strong>of</strong> the<br />

as yet unproven method <strong>of</strong> cloud essence<br />

condensation and a sniffing/tasting<br />

session.<br />

“<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>” says Mark, “began<br />

as a solo show, and in a sense, still is,<br />

however it is in the nature <strong>of</strong> clouds to<br />

expand before bearing the fruit <strong>of</strong> rain.<br />

As the project developed, I got interested<br />

in the many and various collaboratives<br />

aspects <strong>of</strong> art-making. In this case, the<br />

collaborations that occur when a fellow<br />

maker is asked to reinterpret a sketch<br />

into a cast glass boat or into a stainedglass<br />

window or to ‘fabricate’ frames<br />

from recycled oak. It also occurs when a<br />

scent-smith <strong>of</strong>fers to design a perfume to<br />

my brief or when a restorer agrees to build<br />

a cabinet in which cloud essence bottles<br />

might have been lowered from a hot air<br />

balloon in the 1880’s.<br />

“ In each case I am the author (borrowing<br />

as I must, from the world around me), yet<br />

the other makers bring their own creative<br />

gesture to the work. Whether this involves<br />

a kind <strong>of</strong> co-creation which forces me<br />

to change my ideas or the subtlety <strong>of</strong> a<br />

personal fingerprint left in the realizing <strong>of</strong><br />

my design, variations in style appear like<br />

the many unique versions <strong>of</strong> a religious<br />

Page 6: Mark Eliott, Apparatus for the Collection<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong>, 2016. Photo: Richard<br />

Weinstein. Collection <strong>of</strong> Corning Museum <strong>of</strong><br />

Glass.”<br />

Page 8-9: <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>, Craft ACT, 2021.<br />

Photo: 5 Foot Photography<br />

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<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> cloud<br />

Exhibition statement<br />

story portrayed in temple artworks across<br />

place and time.<br />

“I am deeply grateful for all the help I<br />

have received in realising this project -<br />

particularly from my partner Manjit. In<br />

attributing credits, I draw on precedents<br />

like the film industry in which every<br />

contribution - be it great or small, gets<br />

a mention. Inevitably I will have missed<br />

some people as there is no end to the<br />

fine tracking <strong>of</strong> creative interconnections.<br />

Indeed, I maintain that each viewer is a<br />

major contributor to the artwork which will<br />

sprout differently in each mind, we artists<br />

providing mostly the seed.<br />

“In the words <strong>of</strong> 17th century English<br />

poet John Donne: ‘No Man is an Island’<br />

and at the heart <strong>of</strong> my story is an<br />

attempt to understand a basic fact that<br />

many people across the world are now<br />

rediscovering: We humans are not a<br />

lone island in a sea <strong>of</strong> lesser life-forms<br />

put here for our disposal, but a species<br />

needing to collaborate with our neighbours<br />

in the greater story <strong>of</strong> life – a lesson<br />

we absolutely must re-learn if we are to<br />

survive. Even A Deusa Solitaria das Nubes<br />

- the lonely goddess <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Cloud</strong>s, craves<br />

the company <strong>of</strong> others.”<br />

Page 11: Mark Eliott, <strong>Cloud</strong> Harvest over West<br />

Wycombe 1880. Photo: Richard Weinstein<br />

Page 12-13: Grace Cochrane and Mark Eliott,<br />

Craft ACT, 2021. Photo: 5 Foot Photography<br />

10 11


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<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>: Mark Eliott<br />

Exhibition essay<br />

This extraordinary exhibition <strong>of</strong> flameworked<br />

glass and other processes and<br />

materials, which crosses time and place,<br />

fantasy and reality, is underpinned<br />

by an equally extraordinary story <strong>of</strong><br />

the research that went into it. The<br />

exhibited works are made by longexperienced<br />

artist and saxophonist,<br />

Mark Eliott, in some cases collaborating<br />

with colleagues whose assistance<br />

he gratefully acknowledges. In fact,<br />

many <strong>of</strong> the objects in the exhibition<br />

appear to be some <strong>of</strong> the evidence that<br />

turned up in his research along the<br />

way, which is explained in fascinating<br />

and engaging detail in a novel <strong>of</strong> the<br />

same title. Described as ‘a whimsical<br />

tale <strong>of</strong> intrigue, fantasy and earth repair<br />

hovering on the truth,’ it is expected to<br />

be published before the exhibition is<br />

over.<br />

The exhibition seems to have its origin<br />

in a 500-year-old glass form known<br />

as the Spanish Trick Glass intended to<br />

be an amusement for drinking games,<br />

in the Corning Glass Museum in New<br />

York. Mark Eliott identified it as a ‘<strong>Cloud</strong><br />

<strong>Essence</strong> extractor’ and then researched<br />

the idea further for Apparatus for the<br />

Extraction <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong>, a work<br />

<strong>of</strong> his own that was purchased by that<br />

museum in 2017 as a result <strong>of</strong> a project<br />

organised by CraftACT!<br />

But what is <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong>? It appears<br />

to be ‘a rare and almost undetectable<br />

substance purported to induce subtle<br />

yet pr<strong>of</strong>ound changes in the sniffer<br />

or taster; including elation, longevity,<br />

insight and most significantly, an<br />

increase in empathy towards other living<br />

things.’ The 21st century research has<br />

been carried out by contemporary glass<br />

artist Claude (<strong>Cloud</strong>y-head) Eliott-<br />

McFoggarty, who has retraced his family<br />

narrative across five centuries and seven<br />

countries. It was first unfolded to him<br />

by his 1960s hippy grandmother, Dawn,<br />

in the environmental context <strong>of</strong> her<br />

garden. She also passed down to him a<br />

number <strong>of</strong> significant family artefacts<br />

which provided clues, and Claude was to<br />

later revisit some <strong>of</strong> the locations in that<br />

history.<br />

The exhibition uncovers the story <strong>of</strong><br />

Claude’s research – and dreams (head<br />

in clouds?) – in a sequence <strong>of</strong> events<br />

across time, as well as through a<br />

number <strong>of</strong> characters, starting with the<br />

temperamental Lonely Goddess <strong>of</strong> the<br />

<strong>Cloud</strong>s in the early 16th century, whose<br />

tears created the oceans and gardens <strong>of</strong><br />

life; to those affected by them, including<br />

Bágoas the Monkey whom she appointed<br />

caretaker <strong>of</strong> her ’beautiful garden on<br />

the land’. Claude’s 16th century Spanish<br />

ancestor, Dario Fogartino, and his<br />

childhood friend and unrequited love,<br />

Antia, saw the Goddess, and he sought<br />

to recreate the essence for her group<br />

<strong>of</strong> nuns who explained: ‘The goddess<br />

cries for the pains <strong>of</strong> the earth, but her<br />

tears are not just rain water, they infuse<br />

the clouds with a special essence. She<br />

allows the nuns to collect this substance<br />

for therapeutic purposes because they<br />

live clean, virtuous lives and perform<br />

acts <strong>of</strong> charity.’ They believed that ‘when<br />

given a sniff <strong>of</strong> this substance, human<br />

beings would renounce their warlike<br />

ways and return to being caretakers <strong>of</strong><br />

the garden <strong>of</strong> the cloud goddess.’<br />

Dario worked with glass makers to<br />

extract and store the essence for them,<br />

despite the nuns’ concern: ‘So how is<br />

this gangly youth going to find barrels<br />

<strong>of</strong> our precious <strong>Cloud</strong> essence when<br />

the whole nunnery is lucky to collect<br />

a single drop in the heaviest storm?’<br />

He was apprenticed to an apothecary<br />

but his father had shown him some<br />

strange ‘trick glasses’ made by Gianni,<br />

a Venetian-born master glassblower<br />

in Lisboa in Portugal, so he embarked<br />

on journeys including commissioning<br />

Gianni to make his own trick glass to be<br />

used as the basis for a ‘cloud essence<br />

extractor’ which he took back to Antia<br />

and the nuns, within a box he had carved<br />

himself.<br />

He was soon forced to join the Spanish<br />

Armada, sailing in the galleon Santa<br />

Emilia, only to be wrecked in 1588 on<br />

the coast <strong>of</strong> Ireland at Flaggy Shore<br />

in Galway Bay, near the village <strong>of</strong><br />

Ballyvaughan. His carved box was to<br />

save his life when he clung to it while<br />

reaching the shore. Here he met Neave,<br />

and for anonymity changed his name<br />

to Darragh O’Foggarty as her second<br />

cousin and a deaf mute. With a small<br />

group <strong>of</strong> Armada survivors from the<br />

wrecks, and accompanied by Neave,<br />

now his wife, he moved further to a safe<br />

haven in Scotland where he changed his<br />

name yet again to Darach McFoggarty.<br />

Neave McFoggarty was to bear six<br />

children and Dario made wood carvings<br />

in their cottage.<br />

Two hundred years on, their greatgreat-grandson,<br />

naturalist Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />

Hamish McFoggarty appeared in West<br />

Wycombe in the 1880s, where he began<br />

to revisit his ancestor’s research and<br />

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experienced a glimpse <strong>of</strong> the ‘majestic<br />

cloud woman’ and a ‘cloud collision’.<br />

Hamish worked closely with his cousin<br />

Ferdinand McFoggarty, and Ferdinand’s<br />

future wife, painter Vanessa Winthrop.<br />

Claude learnt from his grandmother<br />

that Ferdinand and Vanessa were<br />

his great-great- grandparents, and<br />

Hamish his great-great-uncle. ‘When<br />

they were not gardening, the two men<br />

spent innumerable hours attempting<br />

a repetition <strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>of</strong>essor’s cloud<br />

collision experience.’ It turned out that<br />

Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Hamish McFoggarty invented<br />

a Floating <strong>Cloud</strong> Laboratory (known as<br />

Lucy), based on Count Von Zeppelin’s<br />

airship invention, which was launched<br />

on May 9th 1881 in ‘jubilant springtime’<br />

where ‘the sky was suitably adorned with<br />

a swirling mass <strong>of</strong> deep-grey, pregnant<br />

looking cloud formations.’<br />

Intriguing later, to Claude, was the<br />

discovery <strong>of</strong> ‘a leather-bound ship’s<br />

logbook … Mostly it was legible except<br />

where moisture, wet weather perhaps,<br />

has blurred the ink. The log (and labels<br />

on recovered scent bottles) recorded<br />

episodes <strong>of</strong> an extraordinary journey<br />

undertaken by Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Hamish<br />

McFoggarty.’ This journey from West<br />

Wycombe in 1881-1882 included<br />

to Portsmouth, Galicia, Dehra Jan<br />

(Rishikesh), Madagascar, Batavia<br />

(Jakarta), as well as Broome, Brisbane<br />

and Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) in<br />

Australia, and Lake Taupo and Mount<br />

Egmont (Taranaki) in New Zealand.<br />

Ferdinand and Vanessa followed to<br />

Australia and New Zealand by land and<br />

sea, but the regular communication<br />

through telegraph or large boards<br />

from earth to clouds broke <strong>of</strong>f and it<br />

appeared the Pr<strong>of</strong>essor and his Floating<br />

<strong>Cloud</strong> Laboratory had vanished. But in<br />

Brisbane, Ferdinand discovered: ‘And<br />

look! A mystery airship <strong>of</strong> unknown<br />

provenance was sighted in that region by<br />

a farmer some six weeks prior.’<br />

While the pr<strong>of</strong>essor and his floating<br />

laboratory vanished into the clouds,<br />

‘some years later the airship’s weatherworn<br />

logbook, the empty apparatus<br />

box, the microscope, a box full <strong>of</strong><br />

glass instruments and incredibly, a<br />

chest <strong>of</strong> full, unbroken cloud essence<br />

bottles were found by explorer Thomas<br />

Dawson neatly set down next to the<br />

remnants <strong>of</strong> a campfire in a cave<br />

behind a waterfall on the slopes <strong>of</strong><br />

Taranaki, Mount Egmont.’ Ferdinand and<br />

Vanessa retrieved them; these bottles<br />

had previously ‘precipitated a pr<strong>of</strong>ound<br />

change in the style <strong>of</strong> Ferdinand’s<br />

glassblowing demonstrations. With<br />

the addition <strong>of</strong> Vanessa’s efforts, they<br />

had developed into full-blown ‘Glass<br />

<strong>Cloud</strong> making demonstrations’ and<br />

gained considerable fame on the London<br />

scientific entertainment circuit and<br />

beyond to the majors cities <strong>of</strong> Britain.’<br />

And over 100 years on, in a leather bag<br />

with a small stack <strong>of</strong> tattered books<br />

and loose pages passed on from his<br />

grandmother, Claude Eliott-McFoggarty<br />

found ‘a faded navy-blue diary with<br />

cloth binding and marbled inside cover’<br />

under the name Vanessa Winthrop. ‘The<br />

pages revealed copious notes and loose<br />

sketches including faces, landscapes,<br />

animals, plants and a strange looking<br />

dirigible balloon.’<br />

As a glass artist in the 21st century,<br />

Claude felt a strong commitment to<br />

continuing the legacy <strong>of</strong> his ancestors,<br />

and with his grandmother’s help, booked<br />

a ticket to Madrid, visiting on the way<br />

glassblower ‘Sgt. Pepper’, an American<br />

pipe maker well known for his colourful<br />

glass smoking paraphernalia that made<br />

reference to the British Monty Python<br />

TV series, the Beatles and 1960s<br />

psychedelia and who acknowledged<br />

as his main inspiration the ‘insanely<br />

whimsical trick wineglass in the Corning<br />

Glass Museum’. Claude decided that he<br />

‘must become a scientist and develop a<br />

technique for extracting cloud essence<br />

en masse so that it can be distributed<br />

to as many people as possible. Like a<br />

vaccine against stupidity, greed and<br />

ignorance.’ He was unsure how he would<br />

carry this out, but said: ‘It all starts<br />

with the trick glass!’ In a dream he<br />

met John Lennon who acknowledged a<br />

connection with the song Lucy in the Sky<br />

with Diamonds from Sergeant Pepper’s<br />

Lonely Hearts Club band, and Paul<br />

McCartney’s Fool on the hill which he<br />

thought may have had ‘something to do<br />

with a monkey who was a disciple <strong>of</strong> the<br />

<strong>Cloud</strong> Goddess.’<br />

This complex story unfolds through<br />

insightful artworks in the exhibition in<br />

these sections:<br />

1. 16th century: The Tears <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Goddess and Claude’s search for the<br />

<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong><br />

2: 19th century: Pr<strong>of</strong>essor McFoggarty’s<br />

further investigation<br />

3. 21st century: Doctor Eliott-<br />

McFoggarty’s recent research<br />

Those attending the opening <strong>of</strong> the<br />

<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> exhibition will also<br />

have been involved in an impressive<br />

physical engagement with the<br />

condensation <strong>of</strong> ‘cloud essence’ and<br />

a sniffing/tasting session, <strong>of</strong>fered by<br />

Doctor (Claude) Eliott-McFoggarty.<br />

Mark Eliott is clearly well-embedded in<br />

(and responsible for) this narrative. He<br />

16 17


and his family came to Australia from<br />

New Zealand; they had migrated to<br />

Sydney in 1968 – a significant year <strong>of</strong><br />

achievements and rebellions. You may<br />

recognise the influence <strong>of</strong> his parents<br />

in his work; his father was a well-known<br />

actor and one <strong>of</strong> the founders <strong>of</strong> a<br />

theatre in Wellington; and his mother, a<br />

homebirth midwife and social catalyst<br />

who became involved in the exciting<br />

centre <strong>of</strong> Nimbin before living in India,<br />

Bali and now Ballina, NSW.<br />

Mark studied music and art and today is<br />

also an accomplished saxophonist. As a<br />

child he collected antique glass bottles,<br />

recognising that the surface records<br />

the making process and the marks <strong>of</strong><br />

use over time. In the early 1970s he<br />

found Peter Minson from the family<br />

business <strong>of</strong> making scientific glassware;<br />

both became studio glass experts in<br />

flameworking and, over all the time<br />

since, Mark has remained interested in<br />

flame-worked glass although he <strong>of</strong>ten<br />

includes other media, and other artforms<br />

such as music and video animation.<br />

He also acknowledges colleagues who<br />

collaborate with him along the way.<br />

Consequently, themes that underpin<br />

his work can include much <strong>of</strong> that<br />

background: sculptural abstraction<br />

informed by music; synaesthesia, a<br />

18<br />

merging <strong>of</strong> senses – like identifying<br />

a sound with a colour; representing<br />

biological organisms, influenced by<br />

19th -20th century glassblowers; and<br />

significantly for this exhibition, he also<br />

makes narrative-based works: the telling<br />

<strong>of</strong> stories that bring these ideas together.<br />

As with all <strong>of</strong> us, what we do now, and<br />

who we are, is an accumulation <strong>of</strong><br />

experiences along the way: <strong>of</strong> influences,<br />

turning points and changing directions.<br />

It is definitely so for Mark Eliott who says<br />

in his exhibition statement: ‘At the heart<br />

<strong>of</strong> my story is an attempt to understand<br />

a basic fact that many people across<br />

the world are now rediscovering: We<br />

humans are not a lone island in a sea<br />

<strong>of</strong> lesser life-forms put here for our<br />

disposal, but a species needing to<br />

collaborate with our neighbours in the<br />

greater story <strong>of</strong> life.’<br />

Congratulations Mark; we are all right<br />

behind you!<br />

Note: Quotes from Mark Eliott, <strong>Essence</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>, Sydney 2021<br />

Grace Cochrane AM<br />

Curator, writer, historian, consultant<br />

Page 19: Mark Eliott, <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> Condenser,<br />

2021. Photo: Richard Weinstein


Mark Eliott<br />

Concept, text, glass artwork, woodcarving, performance<br />

Biography<br />

Mark is a contemporary artist whose<br />

core practice is flame-worked glass. In<br />

addition, he incorporates a variety <strong>of</strong><br />

media including text, drawing, music,<br />

performance, stop-motion animation<br />

and wood carving. Mark’s work has a<br />

number <strong>of</strong> themes. One is sculptural<br />

abstraction informed by synaesthesia<br />

and the dance between improvisation<br />

and structure. Another is representation<br />

<strong>of</strong> biological organisms influenced by the<br />

19th - 20th century glassblowers Rudolph<br />

and Leopold Blaschka. A third is narrative<br />

based works including the telling <strong>of</strong> stories<br />

through objects inspired by mythology and<br />

the story telling <strong>of</strong> his father.<br />

Mark completed a Master <strong>of</strong> visual arts<br />

and Master <strong>of</strong> studio arts at Sydney<br />

College <strong>of</strong> the arts as well as associate<br />

diploma in Jazz studies (saxophone) at<br />

Sydney conservatorium <strong>of</strong> music. His<br />

Collaborations include the stop-motion<br />

animation project with Jack McGrath<br />

for which they coined the term Flameation<br />

(flame-glass animation). Their film:<br />

Doctor Mermaid and the Abovemarine has<br />

been screened at a number <strong>of</strong> festivals as<br />

well as glass and animation conferences<br />

in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, the<br />

US and UK, winning three awards at The<br />

Sydney underground film festival in 2010.<br />

Marks work is in many private and public<br />

collections. In 2016 his piece: Apparatus<br />

for the Extraction <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> was<br />

purchased by The Corning Glass Museum<br />

in New York. He also has works in The<br />

Glass Museet in Denmark, The National<br />

Glass collection in Wagga Wagga, The<br />

National Film and Sound Archive, the<br />

National gallery in Canberra and the<br />

Gallery <strong>of</strong> Western Australia, where he won<br />

the 2019 Tom Malone Glass prize with<br />

the work ‘Down at the Water Table’. Mark<br />

provides work for a number <strong>of</strong> galleries<br />

including Veronica George in Melbourne,<br />

Glass artists gallery in Sydney, Flying Pig<br />

Precinct in Berry, Aspects <strong>of</strong> Kings Park<br />

in WA and Canberra Glassworks and has<br />

taught flame-work at venues such as<br />

107 projects, Sydney, Gordon Studios,<br />

Victoria and Canberra Glassworks. Mark<br />

works mostly between Redfern, Sydney<br />

and Mongarlowe in the NSW Southern<br />

Highlands. He also provides interactive<br />

demonstrations and has a strong interest<br />

in environmental and human rights issues.<br />

Page 22: Mark Eliott, <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> Condenser,<br />

2021. Photo: Richard Weinstein<br />

Page 20-21: <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>, exhibition<br />

opening. Photos: 5 Foot Photography<br />

23


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Acknowledgements<br />

Anna Kirk<br />

Assistant curation, glass sprouts, social<br />

media<br />

Ainslie Walker<br />

Crafting <strong>of</strong> scents for <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong><br />

Spike Deane<br />

Cast glass mountains and boat, animation<br />

consulting<br />

Jeff Hamilton<br />

Co-designing and handcrafting <strong>of</strong> stained<br />

glass window<br />

Jo Bush<br />

Puttying and polishing <strong>of</strong> stained-glass<br />

window<br />

Willie Kloven<br />

Light - cabinet for stained-glass window<br />

Peter Nilsson<br />

Cutting and polishing <strong>of</strong> cast glass<br />

Laura Altman<br />

Music for exhibition sound track: ‘Am I’<br />

recorded by the band Chaika<br />

Ben Fink<br />

Original music for exhibition sound track:<br />

‘All at Sea’<br />

Jonathan Zwartz<br />

Original music for exhibition soundtrack<br />

‘Shimmer’ and Luminous from album: The<br />

Remembering and Forgetting <strong>of</strong> the Air<br />

Rhiannon Hopley<br />

Video <strong>of</strong> interactive glass-blowing and<br />

scent-sniffing demonstration<br />

26<br />

Richard Weinstein<br />

Photography <strong>of</strong> Marks pieces<br />

Shane Wiechnik<br />

Co-designing, hand crafting and aging <strong>of</strong><br />

timber pieces<br />

Luke Mitchell<br />

Hand crafting <strong>of</strong> case for <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong><br />

extractor<br />

Luke schepers<br />

Handcrafting <strong>of</strong> timber frames for<br />

Dioramas<br />

Maximilian Whelan-Young<br />

Handcrafting <strong>of</strong> stained-glass window<br />

frame<br />

Yasam Kizildag<br />

Glassblowing <strong>of</strong> architectural elements<br />

Anna Fugelstad<br />

Glass sculpting <strong>of</strong> miniature garden<br />

bushes<br />

Dion Cozic<br />

Animation - filming and editing, graphic<br />

artwork, caliigraphy<br />

Simi Eliott<br />

Calligraphy, background painting, glass<br />

sprouts and social media<br />

Page 24-25: <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>, exhibition<br />

opening. Photo: 5 Foot Photography<br />

Page 27: Mark Eliott, <strong>Cloud</strong>ly Head, 2021. Photo:<br />

Richard Weinstein<br />

Page 28-29: Mark Eliott, <strong>Cloud</strong> essence<br />

Apothecary Chest from HMS Lucy. Photo: Richard<br />

Weinstein


List <strong>of</strong> works<br />

Prologue: A prehistoric time<br />

in which Life on earth is<br />

accidentally spawned by the<br />

tears <strong>of</strong> A Deusa das Nubes the<br />

lonely cloud goddess. Bágoas<br />

the monkey discovers fire and<br />

his friends run amok in the<br />

goddesses’ garden.<br />

Part 1: In 16th century Galicia a<br />

nunnery is founded secretly to<br />

worship the goddess. A young<br />

alchemist Dario Fogartino<br />

searches for cloud essence in an<br />

attempt to please his beloved the<br />

nun Sister Antia<br />

5 Window from the Nunnery chapel<br />

circa 1530<br />

Concept: Mark Eliott, 2021.<br />

Reinterpreted and created as<br />

a stained-glass window by Jeff<br />

Hamilton, puttied and polished by<br />

Jo Bush. Frame from recycled oak<br />

by Maximillian Whelan-Young, aged<br />

by Shane Wiechnik.<br />

$14,500<br />

9 Apparatus case circa 1586<br />

Concept, carved recycled oak,<br />

cloth, metals: Mark Eliott, 2018.<br />

Technical, creative assistance and<br />

ageing: Shane Wiechnik.<br />

$14,500<br />

1 The tears <strong>of</strong> the Lonely<br />

goddess<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted, blown<br />

and sandblasted borosilicate<br />

glass: Mark Eliott, 2021. Glass<br />

ocean: Sculpted and cast from<br />

Blackwoods crystal by Spike<br />

Deane with coldwork by Peter<br />

Nilsson. Painted background: Simi<br />

Eliott and Dion Cozic. Recycled<br />

oak frame: Luke Schepers, timber<br />

aging: Shane Wiechnik<br />

$9,000<br />

2 Bágoas discovers Fire<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted, blown<br />

and sandblasted borosilicate<br />

glass: Mark Eliott, 2021. Glass<br />

Mountain: Sculpted and cast<br />

from Blackwoods crystal by Spike<br />

Deane. Painted background: Simi<br />

Eliott and Dion Cozic.. Recycled<br />

oak frame: Luke Schepers. Timber<br />

aging: Shane Wiechnik.<br />

$9,000<br />

3 Winter’s Sweet Ordeal: Nuns<br />

harvesting cloud essence on<br />

Mount Nube 1586<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted, blown<br />

and sandblasted borosilicate<br />

glass: Mark Eliott. Glass<br />

Mountain: Sculpted and cast<br />

from Blackwoods crystal by Spike<br />

Deane. Painted background: Simi<br />

Eliott and Dion Cozic. Recycled<br />

oak frame: Luke Schepers, Timber<br />

aging: Shane Wiechnik<br />

$9,000<br />

4 Tree <strong>of</strong> the seven clouds<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted, blown<br />

and sandblasted borosilicate<br />

glass: Mark Eliott, 2021. Glass<br />

Mountain: Sculpted and cast<br />

from Blackwoods crystal by Spike<br />

Deane. Glass buildings: Mark<br />

Eliott and Yasam Kizildag. Painted<br />

background: : Simi Eliott and Dion<br />

Cozic. Recycled oak frame: Luke<br />

Schepers, Timber aging: Shane<br />

Wiechnik.<br />

$9,000<br />

6 Primitive <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong><br />

extractor circa 1550<br />

Story illustration, flame-sculpted,<br />

blown and sandblasted borosilicate<br />

glass: Mark Eliott 2018<br />

$1,500<br />

7 Spanish Trick Glass: probably<br />

Spain circa 1600<br />

Photograph <strong>of</strong> genuine artefact:<br />

courtesy <strong>of</strong> the Corning Glass<br />

Museum, New York<br />

NFS<br />

8 Apparatus for the Extraction <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong><br />

Story illustration 16th century,<br />

framed photograph <strong>of</strong> flamesculpted,<br />

blown and sandblasted<br />

Borosilicate glass: Mark Eliott 2016.<br />

Courtesy <strong>of</strong> the Corning Glass<br />

Museum, New York. Photo Richard<br />

Weinstein.<br />

Limited edition prints $100<br />

unframed, $500 framed<br />

10 Cloth Plunger wrapping circa<br />

1586<br />

Stained cloth: Mark Eliott, 2018.<br />

Included with apparatus case.<br />

11 <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> vial: simple,<br />

circa 1550<br />

Concept, flame sculpted and<br />

blown glass, mixed media: Mark<br />

Eliott 2021. <strong>Essence</strong>: Ainslie<br />

Walker.<br />

$400 (limited edition orders<br />

taken)<br />

12 <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> vial: ornate,<br />

circa 1600<br />

concept, flame-sculpted and<br />

blown Glass, mixed media: Mark<br />

Eliott. <strong>Essence</strong>: Ainslie Walker.<br />

$450 (limited edition orders<br />

taken)<br />

30 31


13 The Hidden scroll <strong>of</strong> Darach<br />

(Dario) McFoggarty circa 1610<br />

Concept: Mark Eliott.<br />

Reinterpreted and created as a<br />

scroll by Dion Cozic 2021. Digital<br />

and hand drawn artwork, aged<br />

cotton paper and ink.<br />

$900<br />

16 <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> condenser circa<br />

1880<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted, blown<br />

and sandblasted borosilicate glass<br />

and mixed media: Mark Eliott, 2021.<br />

Glass sprouts: Mark Eliott, Simi<br />

Eliott, Anna Kirk.<br />

$9,000<br />

20 Shot glasses for <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Cloud</strong> Tonic - Set <strong>of</strong> 12<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted and<br />

blown Glass: Mark Eliott<br />

Orders taken: $990 per set <strong>of</strong> 12<br />

or $90 per glass<br />

cloud blowing demonstrations<br />

a wonder to behold<br />

the science <strong>of</strong> clouds revealed.<br />

a taste <strong>of</strong> the purest cloud essence provided.<br />

full bottles available for purchase<br />

23 McFoggarty’s Famous <strong>Cloud</strong>blowing<br />

Demonstration circa 1881<br />

Concept: Mark Eliott, 2021.<br />

Reinterpreted and created as a<br />

poster by Dion Cozic. Printed on<br />

aged paper.<br />

Limited edition orders taken<br />

$100 each<br />

Part 2: In which a 19th century<br />

naturalist Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Mcfoggarty<br />

is struck by lightening while<br />

searching for cloud essence in<br />

a hot air balloon and ropes his<br />

glassblowing copusin Ferdinand<br />

and housekeeper Vanessa into<br />

his research project.<br />

14 <strong>Cloud</strong> harvest over West<br />

Wycombe 1880<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted and<br />

blown borosilicate glass, s<strong>of</strong>t<br />

glass base, mixed media: Mark<br />

Eliott, 2021. Miniature garden<br />

bushes: Anna Fugelstead.<br />

$9,000<br />

15 Fields in West Wycombe circa<br />

1879<br />

Landscape on canvas. Thought to<br />

be painted by Vanessa Winthrop.<br />

Found object.<br />

NFS<br />

17 Brass Microscope circa 1880<br />

Collection <strong>of</strong> the artist.<br />

NFS<br />

18 <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> scent archive<br />

Concept: Mark Eliott in<br />

collaboration with Ainslie Walker.<br />

Vintage scientific bottles, test strip<br />

jar, base from recycled wood: Mark<br />

Eliott. Scents according to location:<br />

Ainslie Walker. Labels: Simi Eliott.<br />

$2,200<br />

19 <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> Bottle: large<br />

circa 1880<br />

Concept: flame-sculpted, blown<br />

and sandblasted borosilicate glass,<br />

paper, beeswax with funnel: Mark<br />

Eliott 2018-2021. Tonic: Ainslie<br />

Walker.<br />

$1,200 (limited edition orders)<br />

21 <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> Bottles<br />

circa 1880<br />

Story illustration: flamesculpted,<br />

blown and sandblasted<br />

borosilicate glass, paper,<br />

beeswax. Mark Eliott 2018-2021.<br />

Scent: Ainslie Walker<br />

Limited edition orders taken:<br />

small $550, medium $750<br />

22 <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> Apothecary<br />

Box from H.M.S. Lucy circa 1880<br />

Concept: Mark Eliott 2021.<br />

Handcrafted mahogany box<br />

(with found and purchased brass<br />

fittings), designed, made and<br />

aged: Shane Weichnick. Flamesculpted,<br />

blown and sandblasted<br />

borosilicate glass bottles: Mark<br />

Eliott. Location labels: Simi Eliott.<br />

<strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong> scent and tonic<br />

according to location: Ainslie<br />

Walker.<br />

$14,500<br />

24 Sea <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>s<br />

Concept, flame-sculpted, blown<br />

and sandblasted borosilicate<br />

glass clouds: Mark Eliott, 2021.<br />

Projected animation derived from<br />

the process <strong>of</strong> making: Produced<br />

by Dion Cozic (in consultation<br />

with Spike Deane), Book <strong>of</strong><br />

audience participants from the<br />

interactive glass cloud-blowing<br />

demonstrations.<br />

$14,500<br />

32 33


Part 3: In which <strong>Cloud</strong>y-head<br />

takes up the family research<br />

which takes him on an adventure.<br />

25 <strong>Cloud</strong>y-head<br />

Story illustration 21st century,<br />

flame-sculpted, blown and<br />

sandblasted borosilicate glass:<br />

Mark Eliott 2021<br />

$5,500<br />

Epilogue. Back in Grandmas<br />

Garden. <strong>Cloud</strong> essence is<br />

spreading and world change is<br />

afoot.<br />

27 All in the one boat<br />

Concept flame sculpted, blown and<br />

sandblasted borosilicate glass:<br />

Mark Eliott. Glass ocean: Sculpted<br />

and cast from Blackwoods crystal<br />

by Spike Deane with coldwork by<br />

Peter Nilsson.<br />

$14,500<br />

30 Video <strong>of</strong> cloud- based<br />

animations<br />

Flame-sculpted, blown and<br />

sandblasted borosilicate glass<br />

clouds: Mark Eliott 2021.<br />

Animation derived from the<br />

process <strong>of</strong> making: Produced by<br />

Dion Cozic.<br />

Music for Exhibition Soundtrack:<br />

26 <strong>Cloud</strong> <strong>Essence</strong> extractor:<br />

artists reconstruction<br />

Story illustration 21st century,<br />

flame-sculpted and blown<br />

borosilicate glass, Mark Eliott<br />

2018 On loan: courtesy <strong>of</strong> Joy<br />

Murray<br />

NFS<br />

28 Processual Documentation<br />

Folder <strong>of</strong> preparatory sketches<br />

Mark Eliott 2016 - 2021.<br />

POA<br />

29 Video <strong>of</strong> Dr Eliott-McFoggarty’s<br />

performance at The Other Art<br />

Fair, Sydney 2019 assisted<br />

by Maria Alejandra Echeverri<br />

GuzmánConcept Mark Eliott. Video<br />

production, filming and editing:<br />

Rhiannon Hopley 2019<br />

POA<br />

Am I - original composition loaned<br />

by Laura Altman, from the album<br />

Arrows by the band Chaika<br />

Shimmer and Luminous – Original<br />

compositions loaned by Jonathan<br />

Zwartz from the album: The<br />

Remembering and Forgetting <strong>of</strong><br />

the Air<br />

All at Sea’ – original composition<br />

loaned by Ben Fink.<br />

Page 36-37: <strong>Essence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cloud</strong>, exhibition<br />

opening, Craft ACT, 2021. Photo: 5 Foot<br />

Photography<br />

34 35


36 37

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