nsagp 2012

Hello hello!

For a long time I have thought about writing a blog but have never quite done it….. So this is the perfect test run!! The time is fast approaching that I will be boarding a plane for Scotland, GREAT BIG THANKS to the National Art Glass Gallery and the Wagga Wagga city council!! What a great opportunity and prize! YAH! I have always wanted to go to Scotland … and not just for the single malt scotch …. Although that definitely doesn’t hurt … till the next morning. Ok no really …. kilts, castles, bagpipes, lukewarm beer AND glass what more could you ask for?

I will do a quick introduction for all of you who don’t know me……. So grab a drink and have a seat! Where to start … where to start …. Well I guess the beginning is always the best place to start and since you are now sitting down with a drink I suppose that I should probably have one myself …. A beautiful single malt Abalour to get me into the mood. Right …. sooooo the beginning …. 

One cool September evening in a small town in rural Saskatchewan back in 1978 I was born, my mother Monica and my father Steve were …… Maybe that’s a bit to far back …?  hmmm. Ok … I currently live in Adelaide South Australia with my beautiful and talented partner Gabriella Bisetto and our equally beautiful and talented 15 month old daughter Neko …. pronounced Neeko … I know I know, she is going to get a lifetime of ‘neck-o’ but if it’s good enough for Neko Case ( a great USA folk singer)  … and we like it. Yes … so both beautiful and talented … in different ways of course … Gab being a significant and internationally recognised glass artist and Neko has just learned to point to the potty when she has to do a poo ….. I have never been so proud of poo! …. I am sure about half of the people reading this are now scrolling back up to check if they are indeed on the right page. Yes yes I swear I will be talking about glass.  …. Currently I am living in Adelaide South Australia and am enrolled in the PhD program at the University of South Australia with a focus on art as transitional objects in relation to relocation and shifting notions of home. I have always been interested in the associations between identity and location and as a new immigrant to Australia it is especially poignant at the moment. I grew up in a small Saskatchewan town in the Canadian prairie’s and studied glass at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) in Calgary Alberta where I spent my last ten years in Canada, eventually teaching at ACAD and running my own public sculpture and custom installation studio.

In 2008 I packed up my Calgary based studio after receiving an Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant to study and work with renowned glass caster Emma Camden in New Zealand. After which I also arranged to be visiting artist in Adelaide at the University of South Australia. From -40 to plus +40  …… +40 for over a week!!! Luckily for me it was the week before I arrived!!

To say that this residency changed my life would be a great understatement!! After three months in Adelaide I had fallen in love with the city and the arts community ….. and truth be told one among the community more then the rest. So I returned home to Canada determined to get back to Australia as soon as humanly possible. A few long months later I was accepted into the Masters by research program at the University of South Australia and at the beginning of 2009 I returned to Adelaide where I have been living and working since.