Kevin's Sea Urchin

Back from West Australia

We are back from a short break in WA , refreshed and inspired after time with the family.Our batteries are charged by seeing Alisdair, Rish and Kevins new work they are doing for our coming exhibition in Wagga.

Alasdair's piece, a bush scene with a stockman on his horse. I can relate to it, he is quietly going about his business. Picking his steps with precision and ease like an experienced tradesman. He is making the job look easy and a calmness filters through the scene so you can almost hear the sticks cracking under the hoofs and the sound of far off birds. It all seems easy until you try it yourself. Staying in the saddle finding your passage through rough terrain, moving the animals in the right direction and of course finding them in the fist place. The near wild animals recognise a master at work and treat him with due respect.
To Alasdair I think it is more simple. He loves the bush and the freedom it represents. His world is simple and in perfect working order.

Kevin finished his last Urchin before we left. A large copper blue sphere that holds light. Every facet and lense refects and reveals endless patterns of the Urchin in to infinity. I can see a certain homeliness to it, a presence that shows a shell that was formed by a life after evolution cast its destiny.

Alasdair Gordon - A Creative Mentor

Marrying into Eileen's family, I gained a Mother and Father in-law, who continuously teach me about love and art. My whirlwind approach is calmed when in the company of Alasdair. His patience and the detail in his work is mind blowing. His life and work re-enforces my belief, that everyone needs a mission, a reason to get up in the morning. He knows so much after all these years, but he acts like he is just beginning, so excited to get to his studio and try some new idea. He taught me that art is an endless journey; you have to get out there and explore. And that new idea, the thing you find, it was on your trail.

Lady and Doves - Alasdair Gordon

Alasdairs' work is getting better and better; with more urgency, comes greater and more important work.  But what I like most about him, he is so humble, seeing  ancient glass in a museum can still have him to tears, because it's just so good.

if you're interested in knowing more about Alasdair you can visit his site here.
and a direct link to his works  here

It's liquid.

Because it's liquid and wants to move, glass for me provides the perfect metaphor for expressing the movement of an object, or thought. Like something that has evolved from history through time or space like a spear, arrow, any vehicle, or idea.  It is here now, we see it now - like a photograph, but it will move on and we will die.                

That's where my work's going at the moment. It will be a challenge to put these thoughts into my glass and make it tell a story - something of where it's been and it's going - headlong into the next ......

I’m a small cog in the wheel.

Eileen and I in our first studio at Numurkah

Some people labour at a job for 40 years, so they can have 20 years enjoying life together.... which is fine, but our life started from the start.

My wife Eileen and I are glassblowers, glass artists, located south of Melbourne, Australia. We share a sense of simple living, working with our hands, where our work is life. And we have worked all these years, to create a life that reflects our energy and makes our art.

The two of us have always believed in our own ability to live our dream, whether on the land or involved in art. While we have our bodies and minds we know can do it, both sharing an optimistic drive, happy to have a go.

I have never been afraid of crossing the deep and muddy creek, to graze on the green grass on the other side. I go ahead and when I feel my wheels slipping and sliding into the deep, I have a warm feeling - it's me and the creek. If I make it, or Idon't make it, I've been lucky to enjoy such a ride.