Glass Art Association of Canada

Resound | Radiate | Refine

Members’ Exhibition 2023

The Glass Art Association of Canada invites you to explore the potential of our upcoming theme Resound I Radiate I Refine for our spring 2023 Members’ Exhibition. How do these words resonate with you? For many of us, glass serves as an extension of ourselves, of what we already have within us, or our response to the world around us. We take this wondrous material and transfigure it in more creative and innovative ways each day. The physical properties allow us to explore our senses and emotions in unique ways; glass echoes, reflects, and transforms. We challenge you to exemplify this theme in your practice. What can you do to expand the limits of your glasswork?

The exhibition intends to highlight the many reasons we make glass art: self-expression, profit, charity, education, cause, or religious and cultural practices. GAAC invites you to share with the community why you do what you do.

This members’ exhibition focuses on emerging, mid-career and established artists from across Canada who employ glass as their primary medium. All glass techniques are accepted including but not limited to fusing, pate de verre, flameworking soft & boro, kilncasting, hotcasting, glass blowing, hotworking, lamination, carving, engraving, multimedia, stained glass, and works involving new technologies.

Exhibited works will be regularly highlighted on social media for the duration of the exhibition.

Diana Fox - GAAC President
Ariel Hill - Conference Chair
GAAC Board of Directors
Marcia DeVicque
Gabriela Wilson
Andrew Beauchamp
Amee Raval
Gosia Martyniak
Ankeeta Kitras
Ramona Stinson
Courtney Downman

Please note, GAAC will not be responsible for sales during this online members’ exhibition. Please ensure your contact information, on your personal GAAC profile, is up to date for potential buyers or inquiries.

La fiole à confidences: Ma Madelaine

Year:
2021
Dimensions:
8''x15''x56''
Materials:
Verre, feutre, tulle, fer
Description:
Je la regarde elle est à mes pieds, avec ses grands yeux verts elle me miaule ses envies de poils ébouriffés. Madelaine la chatte me rappelle que chaque jour je me demande: ''où sont les femmes de ma vie?'' Loin de mon quotidien ahurissant, certes. Mais au moins, il y a Madelaine. Madelaine qui n’a rien de plus à répondre que ses doux miaulements à tous mes questionnements existentiels. Pour l’instant, Madelaine est la seule femme de ma vie, qui reçoit et garde mes secrets.

Artist

Dorothée Bouliane Dorothée Bouliane

Dorothée Bouliane est une jeune artiste professionnelle naviguant entre métiers d’art et arts visuels ayant comme matière de prédilection le verre. Originaire de la Rive-Sud de Québec, elle vit et crée à Montréal depuis les dernières années. Elle gradue en 2022 de la technique en métier d’art à Espace Verre offert en collaboration avec le Cégep du Vieux-Montréal et est récipiendaire de plusieurs bourses durant son parcours scolaire. La jeune artiste se spécialise dans la fabrication d’objets et d'installations de verre soufflé et de verre coulé avec la technique de cire perdue. Dorothée aborde dans ses créations l’absurdité de notre monde, l’étrangeté de l’existence humaine, l'irrationalité et la relativité à travers la narration et la dualité. Elle s’intéresse également à la fabrication de verre archaïque et avec des ressources limitées, avec les artistes Bruno Andrus, Grenviève Grenier et Ito Laïla Lefrançois avec qui elle travaille en collaboration. Dorothée est actuellement a

Diamant du fleuve

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
7.7 x 10 x 5 pouces
Materials:
Verre fusion sur socle de béton
Description:
Quoi de mieux qu’un diamant pour diffuser la lumière et émettre son rayonnement. Son relief fragmenté capte et projette les faisceaux du soleil dans son environnement tel un prisme. Diamant du fleuve est le reflet de la situation écologique actuelle. Habitant aux abords du Fleuve, j’ai observé qu’avant, à chaque hiver, la glace recouvrait une bonne partie du fleuve. Mais depuis quelques années, la glace est encore là mais s’est fragmentée en une multitude de petits diamants qui rayonnent au soleil en se laissant glisser sur l’eau vers la mer. C’est beau et triste à la fois. River diamond What better than a diamond to diffuse light and emit its radiation. Its fragmented relief captures and projects the beams of the sun into its environment like a prism. River diamond is a reflection of the current ecological situation. Living on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, I observed that before, every winter, ice covered a good part of the river. But in recent years, the ice is still there but has fragmented into a multitude of small diamonds that radiate in the sun by sliding on the water towards the sea. It's beautiful and sad at the same time.

Artist

Carole Doyon Carole Doyon

Specialized in glass melting. She holds a D.E.C. in visual arts and a bachelor's degree in graphic design. 2019-2020 Using clay sculptures, she experiments with the technique of casting with fused glass. Its aim is to use the typical characteristics of glass in harmony with the subject. 2021-2022 Confinement was one of exploration of materials and their interactions with each other. The clay becomes an accomplice by integrating itself into the sculpture. 2023-2024 The International Year of Glass offers him the opportunity to participate in several exhibitions. His creativity will be further challenged with his Spontaneous Sculptures in a natural environment derived from "Land art". I realized that several of my sculptures represented "Beauty in Peril. This year, the Corning Museum of Glass has just integrated my sculptures into its archives, It is the largest collection of contemporary glass images in the world of the last 44 years.

OUTPOST

Year:
2020
Dimensions:
14” x 17” x 13”
Materials:
Glass, porcelain, copper wire, solder
Description:
Outpost is a visual enticement to view aquatic ecology as a fragile ship. Each body of water, march or bog carries fragile flora and fauna integral to the health of planet earth.

Artist

Louisa Ferguson Louisa Ferguson

Over the years, Louisa Ferguson’s relationship with Art has been varied. She has studied music, dance, theatre, and many forms of visual art, including a 12-year practice as a contemporary glass artist, as well as the completion of an MFA in Studio Art at the University of Saskatchewan. Louisa’s MFA thesis centred around artistic practice as an embodiment emerging out of a collaborative relationship with the rolling landscape of the pothole region of the prairies where she lives. As a glass artist, Louisa was awarded The Gale Steck Memorial Award for Excellence in Craft by an Emerging Artist for Dimensions 2015. She was a finalist in the 2017 Niche Awards and in the prestigious International Toyama Glass Exhibition 2018. In 2018, she was awarded the Shurniack Fund for Emerging Artists.

Springbank Desire Lines

Year:
2023
Dimensions:
8in x 8in x 1in
Materials:
Silkscreened Reusche enamels on fused glass
Description:
A desire line map of one of my favourite places: the Springbank area just west of Calgary, AB. Each element of the map was printed on a different layer and fused to create a floating time capsule effect.

Artist

Leia Guo Leia Guo

As an interdisciplinary artist my practice exists at the crossroads where glassmaking, analog photography, and printmaking intersect. My previous bodies of work explored the optical potential of blown glass in the silver gelatin printing process, with a focus on distorting photographs through the exposure process. Physically overlapping and moving glass during exposure allows the two compositions that emerge to interact with each other in an intimate dialogue that would not be possible through digital methods or even analog double-exposure techniques. The result is a unique process that allows me to recreate the landscapes of my imagination and reality. These “vitreoscapes” I create are a love letter to the Albertan landscape and the memories I made while being immersed in its sublimity. Within the frame, blown glass plates and lenses turn into images of fleeting clouds and chinooks, creating moments in time that only exist within my mind. Ghostly impressions left by glass on my photo

Together

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
12x18"
Materials:
Fused Glass, Steel
Description:
Rebound and radiate are exactly what this piece represents to me. It signifies a time of hope as we all rebound together, radiating the joy of a new beginning.

Artist

Dale Keating Dale Keating

Inner Peace

Year:
2023
Dimensions:
10x8x5
Materials:
glass, copper trim on box
Description:
Creating has always been a form of meditation for me. My processes are slow and deliberate with details being created with small hand tools and not moulds. Each element goes in and out of the kiln resulting in several weeks to completion of a sculpture. I decide what my world looks like and have each element positioned in the way that pleases my eye; this is satisfying. At times I strive to transform the glass to resemble a living form and at other times I create an element to remind the viewer that the sculpture is in fact glass with all it’s luminous qualities. “Inner Peace” is an example of my joy in creation. It is an imagination of a small moment on the forest floor. It soothes and feels comfortably familiar yet the transparency of the blades of grass creates a dreamlike experience.

Artist

Jennifer Kelly Jennifer Kelly

Jennifer Anne Kelly is a glass sculptor and instructor who lives and creates in Ottawa. Jennifer works primarily in kiln formed glass with detail work in powdered glass and flame worked elements. A unique aspect of her work is the creation of sculptures without the use of moulds or plaster. An interest in social commentary has inspired large scale public art installations that juxtapose her finely detailed interpretations of nature intended for intimate interactions. Her work has been featured internationally in Cirque du Soleil boutiques and in public and private collections. Jennifer is a previous grant recipient from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ottawa Community Foundation. She recently received the award for Best in 3D at the 2021 Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. Jennifer teaches beginner to advanced techniques in glass as a guest artist internationally and at the Ottawa School of Art

Syd & Max

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
12.5" x 29" x 6"
Materials:
Kiln-formed flash glass, fused and sandblasted glass with copper foil construction
Description:
The connection between a mother and daughter is special and unique. Syd represents the daughter, and Max represents their late mother. Whether these two pieces are placed near or apart, they will always be deeply intertwined and connected. This piece represents the relationship that I had with my late mother.

Artist

Jocelyne Le Léannec Jocelyne Le Léannec

Jocelyne Le Léannec is an artist from Manitoba who works in glass and digital media arts. Le Léannec studied Multimedia Communications at the Université de Saint-Boniface. She has participated in several film festivals in Canada, including the Montreal World Film Festival, as well as internationally in the cities of San Diego (United States), Weimar (Germany) and Bra?ov (Romania ). Her animation À la carte (2012) won the Viewers Choice Award at the Cinémental Festival, an annual competition for French-Canadian short films. The film Walrus Sausage (2016) won awards for Best Film and Best Collaboration at the F-Wordz competition from the Winnipeg Film Group. In 2019-2020 she completed the Mentoring Artists for Women’s art Foundation Mentorship Program with Mentor Yvette Cenerini, during which she started a new series exploring the interaction between a craft medium (glass) and a digital medium (animation) to illustrate the juxtaposition between life and death, light and dark.

Friesian Canter in the Sun

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
29.5cm high x 27.5 cm wide x 6.5 cm deep (thickness of the frame)
Materials:
Grisaille & enamels on fused recycled glass, handmade wood light box, LED lights
Description:
Portrait of a Friesian stallion, cantering in a field, warmth of the sun reflecting on his black robe balancing his great strength and dark colour, freedom, happiness, liberty, lightness of the dance - of the heart. Note: LED light box comes with remote and different brightness intensities.

Artist

Malem M. A. Lemieux Malem M. A. Lemieux

Since my early childhood I have drawn, played with colours, clay and several mediums.! ! I was fortunate enough to attend drawing and pottery classes at the Visual Art Centre.! ! I studied at the Ahuntsic College of Montreal and obtained my Graphic Arts degree in 1989 (D.E.C). Being a self-taught person, I learned computer graphics, CGI and web site programming. As a freelance artist, I design and program web sites, create computer graphics and handmade or digital illustrations in 2D or 3D (CGI). I have also drawn hyper-realistic animal illustrations and some were published in a special collection by Les Editions Québec Amérique, others for the Granby Zoo. I also created some characters and children illustrations. I discovered glass with a stained glass class, then moved on to flame working and became a professional recognized artisan. I explored glass transformation in many ways and today my favoured way is through glass painting & fusing. I choose to recycle glass, fuse it to

Elsewhere No. 2

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
21.3cm x 26cm
Materials:
Colour glass vitreograph on somerset
Description:
I think I explore my choice of imagery to stay grounded, to cope with the anxiety surrounding death and the finite; to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, I am just a speck. That's not to devalue myself, but merely to relieve some of the pressure of existing. I firmly believe that our death is not final, regardless if you believe in heaven, reincarnation or just blackness. Our bodies return to dust and nurture something else, and we as individuals go elsewhere, wherever that is. Typing the phrase “post-mortem beauty” into Google, I stumbled upon post-mortem photography, a practice of documenting the recently deceased in the nineteenth century. This is one of three portraits depicting some of the subjects I've chosen. I've replaced their features with flora, implying that what marks them as individuals has moved on. They exist in two places, following the theme of the international print exhibition “In Two Places” organized by Print London (Canada) and the Brighton Storeroom (Barbados).

Artist

Gosia Martyniak Gosia Martyniak

Boardmember on the Communications & Marketing Team. Expressing interest in an artistic career, I attended Western University and achieved my Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in printmaking for its laborious and mechanical charm. I then decided to continue education in hopes of further developing my identity in the art world. The pursuit brought me to the Craft and Design Bachelor program at Sheridan College. I specialized in glass kilnforming, which includes kilncasting, fusing, enamel and silver stain painting. You can find my studio work under Willowind Studios. In addition to my hybrid studio practice, I am an illustrator who runs online print-on-demand shops under the name Spicy Honey Heart. I'm known for generating digital drawings and paintings incorporating glass culture, available for purchase. My designs are organized on Society6, Redbubble & Art of Where.

Impulsion spectrale (une des vues possibles, vidéo disponible)

Year:
2021
Dimensions:
24 po X 24 po X 3,5 po
Materials:
Verre flotté (sérigraphie sur verre), plomb, cuivre, filtres polarisants, cellophane, bois.
Description:
Projet d'art optique et cinétique. Ma proposition vise à démontrer que toutes les couleurs sont présentes dans la lumière blanche. Utilisé pour ses propriétés de se laisser traverser par la lumière, le verre flotté permet à la lumière de traverser le filtre polarisant et une superposition de pellicules de cellophane afin de faire voir ses couleurs. Situé derrière cette verrière le filtre polarisant rotatif permet à la lumière d'animer cette variation de couleurs. Le motif créé par les 24 lignes imprimées en sérigraphie sur la verrière extérieure est repris, en inversion, sur le verre recouvrant le filtre rotatif situé derrière. La lumière blanche led filtrée et la rotation du filtre polarisant actionné par un moteur électrique, d'un tour par minute, présentent à l'observateur une animation optique de formes et de couleurs variées. Une oeuvre contemplative, regénérative en période de confinement

Artist

Colette Matte Colette Matte

Colette Matte est une artiste de la région de Québec, bachelière en arts plastiques de l’UQTR, qui adhère aux théories visant à promouvoir un art plus communautaire. Son travail avec le verre réfère à l’art optique et à l’expérience chromo-cinétique avec la lumière. Voici pourquoi, elle réalise et diffuse, depuis plus de 20 ans, des oeuvres uniques: des sculptures autoportantes, des oeuvres in situ et éphémères, des installations interactives ainsi que des projets participatifs. C’est donc à travers ses oeuvres de verre, associées à la participation active du public, qu’elle tente de matérialiser la présence de l’énergie invisible de la lumière et ainsi célébrer les bienfaits du vivre ensemble. Ses oeuvres publiques sont étroitement liées avec le lieu et son histoire. Membre du GAAC depuis 1995, ses oeuvres ont été exposées au Québec, en Ontario et aux États-Unis.

From The Ashes: Rebirth

Year:
December 2022
Dimensions:
41 x 27 x 5.5 inches
Materials:
System 96, dichroic and iridescent glass. Stainless steel inclusions. Hemlock beam. Polished resin.
Description:
Barbed wire. Electric fence. Imprints of shoes. Cattle cars. Haunting cries. The Final Solution: systematic slaughter of European Jewry with Nazi efficiency. Central to the art is the spirit of peace, unity, and compassion. Inspired by the legend of the phoenix and the transformation it represents by rising from the ashes. The three doves depict the three sisters’ unwavering support of one another, and their spirit of looking to a brighter future. As a boy, Oded felt the veil of sorrow that draped his mother like a cloak. He knew the stories, and yet, when bestselling author Heather Morris wrote the story of his mother in “Three Sisters”, he mourned again. Inspired by the true story and his family history, this multilayered composition was revealed to Oded in a dream. From The Ashes: Rebirth speaks to the best of the human spirit in the worst of times.

Artist

Pamela Ravek Pamela Ravek

Athabasca River

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
6" x 18"
Materials:
Bullseye Glass
Description:
This work is created through multiple firings of layers of glass. I build the glass into slabs of color, break it up and rebuild it into the work I have in mind. All my art reflects the journey through trauma, depression, and anxiety. Working from broken glass and building in layers is a process that mirrors the journey of restoring one’s life from the brokenness of trauma. The lived experience of depression and anxiety that are hidden from view in the layers of everyday living. I use my art as an expression of my experiences and as a statement of the strength we gain through adversity. Regardless of the challenges we face I believe that, by choosing to seek out moments meaning and purpose, we write our own story. It is my hope that this message shines through my creations.

Artist

Kimberly Smith Kimberly Smith

Kimberly Smith is an accomplished artist. She has been selling and showing her unique artwork for over 35 years. Kimberly’s art has been featured in galleries in Alberta and the Yukon and is held in private collections in Canada, the US and Japan. Although her medium has shifted from pottery to glass over the years her unique use of color and desire to capture the Alberta landscape and wildlife remains the same. Kimberly has been teaching art for over 30 years – she has taught watercolor, oils, acrylics, ceramics and pen and ink and kiln fired glass.

It's The Journey

Year:
2023
Dimensions:
7-1/2" high, 4" diameter
Materials:
blown glass and ceramic decal
Description:
For the past few years I have been making more customs urns. This has led me to investigate what kinds of pieces I can make, what imagery I can use, what will resonate with people, what do we have in common? How do you honour someone’s life? I like the image of the touring bike because cycling is such an intimate and intentional way to travel through this world. The bicycle on this keepsake urn/lidded jar is a custom hand built touring bicycle by Alien Fabrication and it has traveled all over North America.

Artist

Nicole Tremblay Nicole Tremblay

Nicole Tremblay has been creating blown glass artwork for over twenty years. In 1998, she graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Glass, and today co-owns and operates Fireweed Glass Studio, Ltd. in Canmore, Alberta. Nicole is known for her love of bright colours, fluid shapes, whimsical figurines and natural imagery. The vast Canadian Rockies landscape that she calls home is the inspiration for Nicole’s glass creations. Her artwork echoes the beauty and wonder that is all around her, capturing the essence of the sky, mountains, aurora borealis, mushrooms, wildflowers and other natural objects. Nicole is an integral part of the Canmore arts community, and you can often find her collaborating with other artists as they promote the arts in her mountain community. Her work is exhibited across Canada, and can be found in collections throughout North America.

Blacteria Jar

Year:
2020
Dimensions:
12cm W x 12cm L x 15cm H
Materials:
Blown and Cold Worked Glass
Description:
A lidded vessel with a bacteria like growth of color forming on the exterior surface.

Artist

Paul van den Bijgaart Paul van den Bijgaart

Paul van den Bijgaart was born in Edmonton, Alberta. His youth was fueled with a pursuit for adrenaline through downhill ski racing, mountain biking, and skateboarding. This life in motion eventually led him to a weekend glassblowing workshop at Red Deer College in 2007. Since then, he’s continued his studies at Haliburton School of the Arts, Sheridan College, Pilchuck Glass School, and The Corning Museum of Glass. In 2015 a leap of faith led him to Beijing China. For the next 4 years he traveled China and became intrigued by Chinese ink painting. Throughout his travels a seed of a new man was planted, and with the skills gained from his youthful love of motion and western studio practice alongside a new found philosophy and understanding of the world. He’s attempting to find a balance and harmony within the studio to create meaningful objects that people can relate to in the rituals and ceremonies of daily life.

Ghost Box

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
9x5x5"
Materials:
Steel, Borosilicate Glass
Description:
Ghost Box is a conversation between the maker and the work, asking why we make what we do and whether there is a purpose to such a seemingly useless vessel. Ghost Box is from a series of non-functional boxes fabricated at Penland School of Craft summer of 2022. The vessel's lid is seamlessly plug-welded together, with a flared, punched-out lip to hold a flameworked glass component, reminiscence of a waterdrop. The cylinder terminates with a forged, domed bottom on the interior that is seamlessly fit and welded. The entire vessel has a fine hammered finish that helps refine and highlight the look of the rusty steel stock of the original material. At the same time, the interior is finely polished and darkened. The vessel's name comes from the colour name of the borosilicate flameworked glass used.

Artist

Gabriela Wilson Gabriela Wilson

Artist Gabriela Wilson is renowned for incorporating glass and metal, blending technical expertise with contemporary aesthetics. Her exploration of glass's tactile and transformative qualities, particularly through kiln-formed glass, is informed by formal training in jewellery, gemmology, and sculpture, shaping her technical approach to the medium crafting narratives that captivate visually and instinctively. Gabriela has studied at numerous institutes across North America, including Craft and Design at Sheridan College, with a glass major, graduating in 2014. She is pursuing her BAH in Studio Arts, focusing on sculpture, at the University of Guelph, with a minor in Museum Studies. She has received multiple awards and scholarships, including Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts grants.

Un-1

Year:
2022
Dimensions:
15x12x8cm
Materials:
Glass, metal
Description:
The essence of casting is predetermined, and the mould is a collection of expectations and definitions. My practice is experimental and based on the transformation of different materials while not entirely bound or defined by the mould. The method of shaping the work draws on the ancient ritual of wax divination, "carromancy". It is an attempt to use fatalism to represent the opposite of certainty. It highlights the uncertainty of the making process, often identifying new possibilities.

Artist

Zihao Xiong Zihao Xiong

His works focused on the concepts of self-expression and examination of identity, using the temperance and fragility of glass to highlight the difference between inner truth and external perceived identity. Zihao was born in a city built in mountains in China and grew up in a modern society while surrounded by the beauty of nature. As the unique duality fascinated him, he has a desire to find the link between contradiction and balance. His time in Canada has significantly impacted his work. Since enrolling at Sheridan College he has developed his concept through kiln-casted and flameworked sculpture.