Richard Whitely, Head of the Glass Workshop at
Canberra School of Art and an amazing internationally renowned Glass artist, came to UCHSK last week with his assistant
Rose and delivered a Glass Fusion program with Year 10 students as part of the SOA Outreach Program.
In this workshop students viewed works of art by contemporary glass artists, exploring the range of processes artists use to generate their works. Under Richard and Rose's guidance, they then worked with recycled coloured glass and fibre mat to prepare a glasswork for the kiln.
Richard started his journey with glass when he became an apprentice in a stained glass work-shop at the age of 16, giving him a valuable insight into working with students in such an unusual and delicate medium.
In the course of the workshop it turned out that some students had actually used a very precious glass which contains gold particle, turning aspects of the finished designs a purple hue.
Fusing took place back in the Glass workshop and the finished
objects were returned to the students last Monday. As the photographs show, students produced
spectacular pieces and really enjoyed the opportunity to explore their creativity. Opportunities such as these are great and rare; they teach our students so much through the use of different mediums, tools and equipment and enhance their sense of what amazing things they can achieve.