Nick Wirdnam

3 piece(s) in the gallery

Nick Wirdnam is a highly regarded Australian glass artist whose work covers traditional forms of glass as well as conceptual sculpture in glass. Incorporating a language of recurring symbols and motifs, Nick sets up a dream-like and ambiguous narrative that allows room for open-ended interpretation. Nick’s latest body of work has been inspired by superstition and explores the idea that events can be influenced by an object, an act or a saying. The realistic glass forms adopt the surface texture and color of the object they represent, which is particularly remarkable in the ‘wooden’ keys and wishbones. With a masterful distillation of all the sensuality inherent in glass, Nick creates beautifully colored, hot sculpted objects that immediately attract and then confound, lyrical groupings that challenge in unexpected ways.
Born in Portsmouth, England, Nick Wirdnam became a foundation member of the studio team at Isle of Wight Glass in 1974, where he stayed for the next nine years, producing award winning decorative functional work and art objects. Moving to Australia in 1983, Nick took up a teaching position at Monash University, Melbourne, where he continued to lecture until 2007. In 1998, Nick was awarded the Pilchuck Scholarship to attend hot-sculpting classes with Italian master, Dino Rosin and, in 2002, he accepted a residency at Northlands Creative Glass Centre in Caithness, Scotland.


ARTIST Q & A

1. Does one series of pieces lead you to other series or directions? If so, how?
My work is progressive and is inspired by my family, so does one work lead to another, yes! I would hope it communicates emotion, silence, relationships and intimate space.

2. How is your art best displayed? Do you have a preference for lighting?
Light is important to all glass and depending on the work, requires different lighting situations. All my work is better back lit with either natural or manufactured light. Natural light will allow the work to change throughout the day. Glass is the great communicator of light and generates differing emotional responses which keep the work active.

3. If your work demands an apparatus for display, is that an integral part of the design or an independent creation? Do you prefer to create the apparatus yourself, or collaborate?
Sure my work does require certain apparatus to be displayed and this offers the possibility to compose, to create space relationships and silence between the elements. For the most part, these stands and bases are to me invisible.

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