Blow Your Sculpture 2019 - Exhibition Catalogue

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tion With

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Blow Your Sculpture 2019

In Collabora

Blow Your Sculpture is a collaborative project to explore and introduce glass as an expressive medium by inviting artists from other media, and our small South African glass fraternity itself, to make blown glass sculptures.

In its third iteration since 2014, Blow Your Sculpture is rapidly evolving into a substantial collaborative project breaking existing boundaries.

Our first project was part of the Cool Capital biennial in 2014 which exhibited the final works at Modern Art Projects (and are part of their permanent collection now).

Thereafter BYS took place in 2016, coinciding once again with Cool Capital.

We hosted an open air exhibition at the Pretoria Botanical Gardens and thereafter at the Pretoria Art Museum.

In Collaboration With

The basic idea with BYS is to introduce non-glass artists, designers, architects and the like to the possibilities glass has to offer. Artists are invited to make a mould or have a concept to shape hot glass.

This year Blow Your Sculpture takes place at Smelt Glass Studio, Victoria Yards, Johannesburg. Smelt is one of the shining stars in South Africa’s local glass community run by Martli Jansen van Rensburg and Mike Hyam.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

BlowYourSculpture

@blowyoursculpture © 2019 Lothar Bottcher & Blow Your Sculpture Pretoria, South Africa

Blow Your Sculpture’s desired result is to grow the hand-made glass industry in South Africa. Through new processes and challenges, individual participants bring new ideas and concepts to the hotshop - which at times seems like a baptism of fire for both the participant as well as the skilled blowers.

Key to this is the unbiased outsider nature of the artist’s concepts. Artists not familiar with glass have ideas which at times can be quite challenging, especially for the skilled blowers, yet open new avenues through problem solving on the fly.

So far every creative has brought something new to the hotshop floor.

Although the basic combination of fire, sand and air to form molten glass is the same, the results speak of individual voices expressing themselves through an almost unpredictable process in an unfamiliar milieu.

Lothar Bรถttcher

Blow Your Sculpture 2019 participating artists include: Guy du Toit Peter du Toit Charl Enslin Richard John Forbes Gordon Froud Caitlin Greenberg Mike Hyam Martli Jansen van Rensburg Ian Redelinghuys AnZu Wicks Lothar Bรถttcher (Instigator / Curator) Blow Your Sculpture was opened by Lothar Bรถttcher at the Pretoria Art Museum on the 13th of March 2019 and will be run till the end of April 2019 with a walkabout on 30 March 2019.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Maxi Pretorius

Guy du Toit Base is made of glass and bronze; both mediums involve extreme heat in their manufacture. The glass was the result of a workshop hosted by Smelt Glass Studio titled BYS – Blow your Sculpture.

The bronze part of Base is a play on the medium traditionally used to cast the sculpture, but instead it has been used to create the pedestal, making the sculpture redundant and the base the sculpture.

The transparent glass was blown onto a corner of the base. The X, Y- and Z-axes are used to define the shape and space of the sculpture.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

guy.Sculpture@gmail.com +27 (0)83 369-6735

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Base Bronze, glass

Peter du Toit This is an attempt to make glass logs – an exploration of glass, bronze and wood.

Plaster moulds were made of logs. Then I drew waxes from the moulds to clean up and chip off any undercuts. The waxes were cast in bronze. The moulds then had glass blown in them.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

dutoit.peter@gmail.com +27 (0)60 478-6397

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Nature of Glass Blown glass, bronze

Charl Enslin I work with different kinds of “hard” found objects, aiming to convert and depict the hard objects as breakable. In glass, the objects take on a new figurative character.

Through the use of metal moulds, the glass adopts a “hard” texture and character, but it also reflects a lively new creation. The totally opposite surfaces of the glass and the rusted metal are in juxtaposition – glass being such an amazing medium that it accepts and reflects anything placed in its surroundings.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

censlin31@gmail.com +27 (0)82 829-6293

Precious Soul Glass, mild steel, leather

Bright-Eyed Boy Aluminium, glass, found objects, mild steel, Blackwood

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Blue Collar Glass, found object (steel), sandstone

Richard John Forbes Shy restrained pink things I have travelled to four continents with my pink intervention, the shy restrained pink thing: a five-meter inflatable balloon temporary sculpture. Its task is to lighten and enlighten, to confound and uplift.

Like a person, it has scars and repairs from its journey, and it has a story to share.

Now it has found a new voice in the form of glass blown in collaboration with the skilled, patient artists at SMELT and the deft polished hands of Lothar Bรถttcher.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

In order to create this body of glass works, it has been critical to restrain and constrain the medium, although the extreme heat and thick, oozing liquid nature of molten glass is constantly seeking escape.

These exquisitely blown restrained glass forms are also extensions of an exhaling expression. richard@richardjforbes.com +27 (0)72 223-1460

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Shy Restrained Pink Things Mould blown glass

Gordon Froud I used steel mesh moulds that had been welded into the geometric forms of my recent works. Into and onto these, glass was blown or slumped, allowing the glass to appear quilted.

The glass optically enlarges the forms when it intrudes into the mesh, showing the difference between the metal and glass.

The works are about exploring geometric form through the transparent medium of glass and the retention of the metal superstructure.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

gordon@gordartgallery.com +27 (0)84 423-8635

Quilted Triangle Mould blow glass

Triangulation Mould blown glass

Quilted Vessel Mould blown glass

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Open Ended Polyhedron Mould blown glass

Caitlin Greenberg The installation refers to our current bubblegum culture, where through popular media culture one can create a sweet, sticky, pliable yet fragile distortion of the Self.

The expulsion of breath into molten glass creates a swollen sphere that becomes a fragile pressurized bubble, a membrane of the Self. Contrary to this idealistic Self, the porcelain telephone line insulator forms symbolize mass communication – a platform that controls all versions of the Self.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

c.greenberg1@gmail.com +27 (0)84 726-2970

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Via The Grapevine Glass, fabric cord, lights

Mike Hyam The artwork is about unfolding into defined forms, opening up like a blossom uncurling, but in the process the forms are wrinkled and undulating, and they find their own rhythm, stretching and growing in their own way. All may look the same, but each has its own stretch marks, bruises and place on a journey to fulfilment.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

The artist works around the complexities of human growth, considering each individual in his or her own way, at different stages of the journey, each unique but with the same desires and needs. In this work, unfolding is about slowly opening up to see inside oneself new things, new possibilities, new challenge, new insights – an ongoing journey of discovery and stretching.

mikehyam@mweb.co.za +27 (0)82 652-4490

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Unfolding Blown glass, steel

Martli Jansen van Rensburg Diamant/Diamond Diamonds are formed in the earth’s mantle by heat and pressure. This artwork, which is blown, is also formed and manipulated by heat and pressure.

This piece becomes a memory of a rough-cut diamond. The shadows create movement in the piece and bring an element of non-permanence.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

martli@moltenglass.co.za +27 (0)82 457-1674

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Diamant / Diamond Hand blown glass, stainless steel, light

Maxi Pretorius Sarcophagus This is my sarcophagus, after a lifechanging event a year ago left me in a wheelchair. My whole life has changed.

The tomb is often embellished with ornamentation and nearly always has feet, but the “coffin” is empty – it is just an empty symbol of the receptacle.

For me, it symbolises burying the difficulties and the past and living for the future (moving forward).

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Toadstools are hallucinogenic. They are usually considered symbols of good fortune; mushrooms also represent rapid growth, due to this unusual physical characteristic.

In many areas, the appearance of a ring of mushrooms on the ground is cause for either rejoicing or alarm. In Great Britain, these circles are known as fairy rings – they are where the Fae come to dance and frolic after a rainstorm.

maxipretorius@hotmail.com

However, like at many locations associated with faeries, humans who dare to enter such a ring may find themselves asleep for a hundred years or, worse yet, whisked off to the land of the wee folk, never to return.

+27 (0)82 956-9055

In Holland, these rings are believed to

be left when the Devil sets down his milk churn. When he picks it up, a big circle is left in the grass. In some countries, such as France and Austria, these rings are associated with sorcery and malevolent magic, and travellers are well-advised to steer clear of them.

A ladybug (or ladybird) is believed to be an embodiment of Lady Luck, and it brings good fortune and prosperity along with it. As the insect leads a vibrant and colourful life, it influences you to experience the joys of living to the fullest.

The butterfly is a symbol of change, joy and colour. The exquisite butterfly is considered a miracle of transformation and resurrection. For many, the new year signals a sense of transformation – a time to evaluate life in its current state and to set goals for manifesting change. The butterfly symbolises transformation and joy. Its dance reflects the need for movement from where we are to our next phase of being.

It is said that a single leaf is an ancient heraldic symbol that represents happiness. However, it can represent so much more than happiness. In fact,

the leaf can represent a variety of aspects of one’s life because it is a symbol of life. It can also represent death.

Rain signifies tears, pain, sorrow and grief. On the other end, rain drops may relate to an incident that might make you cry.

According to myth, pearls are symbolic of wisdom gained through experience. These gems are believed to offer protection, as well as to attract good luck and wealth. They are well known for their calming effects.

The rose is considered a symbol of balance. The beauty of this flower expresses promise, hope and new beginnings.

Sarcophagus Blown glass & mixed media

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

The circle or sphere is a universal symbol with extensive meaning. It represents the notions of totality, wholeness, original perfection, the self, the infinite, eternity, timelessness, all cyclic movement, God. God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. – Hermes Trismegistus

Ian Redelinghuys

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Ianredhaus@gmail.com +27 (0)82 880-7076

Ego/Ergo

World keeps getting bigger

I have had a long-held interest in this particular kind of chair, which is found all over Africa and is locally referred to as lekgotla (chair). It is of no particular value, being made of scrap wood and very rarely constructed as a seat of importance, but it is nevertheless employed in the lekgotla (village council) to seat the elders, and so it becomes an apt metaphor for the individual’s “elevation” or self-importance (ego), as well as of the comfort of easy seating.

This work was originally made as a contribution to Gordon Froud’s curated exhibition in homage to the musician Tom Waites. The line world keeps getting bigger is taken from the song “On the Nickle” and it deals with poverty, hopelessness, homelessness and the erroneous and ethereal notion of luxury on the street. It is a poignant song for lost youth.

The material, glass and wood in this work, also has no precious value, and treating it allows a free flow of the molten glass, making use of the resultant “feathering”, discolouration, and “throwaway” shapelessness of the work. It represents a kind of “wanting to be something … but it isn’t. It is important because I say so.”

The glass element was blown by the Isle of Wight glassblower, Carl Nordbruch. The ʻlittle boys’/angels are cast from small altar carvings. The rubber toy dog was found on a rubbish dump.

World Keeps Getting Bigger Wood, M1 steel, glass

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Ego/Ergo Glass and wood

AnZu Wicks Do we appreciate glass enough?

It is in front of us every day in vehicles, on phone screens and as windows, but there are fewer and fewer patrons and artisans who understand the dynamics of this adaptable crystalline structure.

Here is a project of unsurmountable importance that strives to re-establish the creative magic of glass and stimulate the viewer to ask questions and allow the possibility of these ancient formulas to exist in their ephemeral place amongst artificial and polluting modernisms.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

AnZu, who has a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Cape Town, lives and works in South Africa and France and specialises in forged metals

and organic paintings. anzuwicks@gmail.com +27 (0)62 526-1234

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Racing From Technology Cast & manipulated glass, forged steel

Lothar Böttcher Sock Head

Pin Head

Paging through the digital version of New Glass: A Worldwide Survey (1979) by the Corning Museum of Glass, I was struck by the simple ingenuity to contain a hot glass bubble using fine wire mesh – Head #4 by Don Shepherd.

I was inspired by those desk toys where one can make impressions of a face or hand by pushing hundreds of pins. This would be a great idea to shape glass and to alternate or change the pattern quickly with one gizmo!

The almost textile quality of the mesh pattern allows the glass to be formed, as if in a sock, giving the impression of a head. Cut gaps within the mesh allow the glass to bulge as the blower’s breath forces it outward, changing the surface texture.

The back is embossed with my trade logo – a hand holding a turning cutting wheel. The stone “shoulders” have varying textures, much like the glass, and by painting them I am appropriating these readymades, changing their nature to complement the “heads”.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

My sculptures combine glass, metal and stone to subtly resemble busts.

I am quite excited to see where this will lead to.

lothar@lotharbottcher.com +27 (0)83 276 7594

I would love to develop this idea further for possible sculptural lighting.

Pin Head #1 & #2 Mould blown glass, steel, sandstone, paint

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Sock Head #1 & #2 Mould blown glass, steel, sandstone

Blow Your Sculpture 2019 opened on 13 March at the Pretoria Art Museum, almost a year after launching at Smelt Glass Studio.

Twelve artists took part in this third iteration of a collaborative project with the aim to promote glass as an expressive medium within the South African art milieu. Blow Your Sculpture also strives to grow our local hand-made glass industry.

The opening night exceeded all expectations with almost two hundred guests arriving to experience and delight in the multitude of works on display. The Pretoria Art Museum was a hive with people from all over buzzing in conversations, mingling and taking photos with their favourite pieces.

Such a phenomenal turnout surely is a sign of BYS’s success in promoting creative glass. Each artist had their own approach on how they interpreted this limitless and versatile material. Their narratives ranged from heads to illumination, glass carpentry in the form of a seat and much much more.

Blow Your Sculpture is the brainchild of Lothar Böttcher who launched the first event during the Pretoria CoolCapital biennale in 2014. This first collaboration was exhibited at Modern Art Projects and is now in their permanent collection in Graskop.

In 2016 BYS took place again with the added parameter to ad light with, upon or onto the sculptures. The exhibition was staged in two parts - the first was hosted in the open air at the Pretoria Botanical Gardens for two nights whereafter all the works were installed at the Pretoria Art Museum.

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Now, after an absolutely successful launch, the exhibition will be catalogued and used for promotion. BYS is looking for sponsorship to grow the concept and allow students and other artists, who don’t have the financial means, to participate.

Blow Your Sculpture is growing and there is already talk of the next collaboration - possibly in 2021...

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Shy Pink Thing by Richard John Forbes Emerging on the Pretoria Art Museum’s roof...

YouTube Links & Other Media https://youtu.be/nOY2w8kURXA Martli https://youtu.be/CQ-aQD1Kc_c Lothar https://youtu.be/dWcWL9yrZVU Gordon https://youtu.be/mXzgxf77-EU Peter https://youtu.be/vTXA6HW4y2k Guy https://youtu.be/WX0aT-g4ICo Maxi https://youtu.be/z4pbSJFNtU0 Ian https://youtu.be/IjOEC5JFOfY Charl https://youtu.be/zgNOw8WAAgo Mike https://youtu.be/UmUdk8HJFTs Anzu

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Radio Sonder Grense - RSG Kuns Interview with Christelle Webb-Joubert http://www.rsg.co.za/forcedownload.asp? fn=20190402%5FRSG%5FKUNS%5FBlow%5 FYour%5FSculpture%2Emp3&f=%2Fimages %2Fupload%2Fsound%2Fklanke%2F

The Pretoria Art Museum https://www.facebook.com/smeltglass/

+27 (0)12 358 6750 hanneliedp@tshwane.gov.za

Blow Your Sculpture 2019

Blow Your Sculpture 2019