Alchemy

'Alchemy' glass exhibition piece was produced for 'Glass 21', an exhibition of architectural glass held in Melbourne's Chapel off Chapel in October 2009.

The three dimensional work (H 2000mm, W 740mm, D 690mm) features two planes of 15mm toughened float glass connected by architectural patch fittings and anchored by a plasma cut mild steel base. Caught between the two planes is a laser cut screen of polished aluminium.

The work explores the potential for using contemporary architectural materials and components in a spatial interplay between transparency, opacity, absorption, veiling, reflection, texture, shadow, materiality and design.

The glass panels were hand ground, acid etched, sand blasted, silk screened, hand painted and kiln-fired with gold lustres and enamels. The application of a distressed, sheet lead overlay is a subversive departure from the lead of traditional architectural glass as it becomes more the fabric than the seam; more the positive than the negative.

In visual terms there are certainly echoes of the sinuous matrix that lead once created, but these are now part of the host glass, appearing as gold trenches that are more suggestive of the contemporary urban realm than the spiritual realm out of which the ‘architectural glass’ that we have known was born.

Projects of this nature are managed through a partnership of Peter Campbell Design and Heritage Decorative Glass under the moniker, Glassplay. They are driven by the desire to harness the tension that is found between the visionary advances of contemporary architecture and the emotionally powerful possibilities that exist where art meets technology.

Glassplay’s artistic and technical synergy enables us to provide client organisations with visual encoded, conceptually and artistically integrated glass environments that enhance both the liveability and legibility of their buildings.

COLLABORATORS
Creative Director, Designer: Peter Campbell
Technical Director, Fabricator: Rick Allen