Stephen Bradbourne - Old Thread/New Thread

02 February 2010

When I began blowing glass in the early 90's the hot glass seemed almost alive with a mind of its own. It was a struggle to control the hot liquid material and a battle against gravity to keep it of the floor. As my skills with hot glass developed so to did my interest in what was happening with contemporary glass art overseas and what had happened historically.

Traditional Italian techniques such as Murrine, Mosaic and Twisted cane immediately caught my attention because they displayed a total control over the material. The tight linear decoration was so precise and the shapes of the vessels so clean and up-lifting. Seeing images of this work was a huge influence and I began trying to emulate these styles as best as I could, often with little success.

In the late 90's I began working almost exclusively with the 'murrine' mosaic technique and it has been my main focus ever since.

With this new show I have attempted to put together a body of work which displays my continued interest in the differing 'murrine' and ' linear cane' techniques as well as a renewed focus on some different  'twisted cane' styles.

Stephen Bradbourne

Auckland 2010

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