GALIA AMSEL by Milford Galleries

Galia Amsel Shades of Blue and Clear 2nd - 27th April, 2011

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Milford Galleries Dunedin 18 Dowling Street

(03) 477 7727

info@milfordhouse.co.nz

1. GALIA AMSEL, Surf 9 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture

e, acid etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 513 x 748 x 155 mm

1. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Surf 9 (2011)

2. GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture

e, acid etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 492 x 435 x 72 mm

2. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011)

3. GALIA AMSEL, Floe 2 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture

e, acid etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 570 x 513 x 170 mm

3. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Floe 2 (2011)

4. GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted tex

xture, acid etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 342 x 384 x 60 mm

4. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011)

5. GALIA AMSEL, Antarctic Drift 3 (2008) cast glass, hand

smoothed & polished, size (v x h x d): 285 x 965 x 134 mm

5. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Antarctic Drift 3 (2008)

6. GALIA AMSEL, White Squall 5 (2010) cast glass, hand s

smoothed & polished, size (v x h x d): 605 x 525 x 120 mm

6. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, White Squall 5 (2010)

7. GALIA AMSEL, West Wind Drift 3 (2010) cast glass, hand

d smoothed & polished, size (v x h x d): 475 x 605 x 200 mm

7. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, West Wind Drift 3 (2010)

A “gentle change” is occurring in Galia Amsel’s glass. It’s been in process for some while. From 2004, when she moved to NZ, narratives of landscape and natural event emerged, adding expressive and atmospheric qualities to the triangulated, geometric shapes and abstract substance existing. Amsel’s visual language is also substantially design and form based, with the drama of space, motion, fluid colour and varied mass integral. Her works vibrate with light and the numerous and varied finishing techniques used come to mean important individualised things in each work. The incomplete open circle and the certainty of line begin talking. Her works have architectural presence and become ritualistic objects. The slow evolution in her work means Amsel is combining the old and new together. This progressive, sequential development of her work strengthens and broadens it. To the observational quality existing, Amsel is beginning to add meaning. The new “Inner Spirit” series hints at an alternative direction and a more personal content. The metaphoric, symbolism of an hourglass shape occupies the centre, seeming to rise up and down like bubbles in an oil lamp. The technical complexity of the layering and fusing, of slumping and bending processes, and casting is hidden by a sense of spontaneity. “White Squall” (2010), “West Wind Drift” (2010), reference and capture weather phenomenon in choreography of motion and moment. “Surf 9” (2011) bends; delivering a sliced wave about to fall. “Floe” (2011) and “Antarctic Drift 3” (2008) speak of ice flow and reveal a representational impulse. The ambiguously titled “Blew” (2011) introduces a remarkable new form. Each rising end enters the air blade-like, seeming to twist, crossover and change position.

EXHIBITION PRICELIST

Surf 9 (2011)

14,500

Blew (2011)

14,000

Floe 2 (2011)

15,000

Inner Spirit 3 (2011)

12,500

Antarctic Drift 3 (2008)

11,250

White Squall 5 (2010)

14,500

West Wind Drift 3 (2010)

15,000

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

GALIA AMSEL b. 1967, lives Auckland

Flare 2 (2010)

Galia Amsel’s work is characterised by exploration of colour, form, motion and intervention. The simplicity of her work comes from a “highly developed visual sense” and spatial harmonies founded in “geometry and the resolution of mathematical formulae”. Her basic shapes are the forms of a circle, rectangle or square which have been “broken open or interrupted in some way” and these openings “always create drama and tension.” Inevitably, the “empty spaces… are as important as those occupied by the glass mass.”(1) Galia has experimented "boldly with form. The circles and rectangles of her earlier work have opened up and found new spatial rhythms, new points of balance. Large open circular and oval forms balance on 'tip toe' reminiscent of a dancer on point. They are perfectly stable but balletic movement is implied in the way they are constructed. Her technical mastery also allows for gradations of colour and transparency, that makes the work vibrate with light". (2) Amsel’s work has the beguiling presence of various surface textures and cold-working techniques (polishing, sandblasting, resist masking etc). These assist the expressive qualities of the work while also defining shape and substance. Her work is certain and concise, expressive and atmospheric. In addition, light is confined inside the mass of colour, revealing atmospheres, establishing tones and contrast. Her works are ritualistic objects, with internal space frozen in time. They establish the rhythms of a moment attained. Narratives of landscape and natural event emerge: such as when rain is falling vision becomes impaired, space becomes shortened and restricted. Born 1967 London, Amsel currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1989 she gained a Bachelor of Arts, first class honours, in 3-D Design (ceramics and glass) with Middlesex Polytechnic, London and in 1991, a Masters in Glass with Royal College of Art, London. Amsel has exhibited in the USA, Spain, France, Netherlands and New Zealand including a significant solo show at Museo de Arte an Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain (2004). She is represented in numerous internationally significant collections, including Corning Museum (USA), Crafts Council Collection (London), Glasmuseet Ebeltoft (Denmark), Te Papa (NZ), Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), Ulster Museum (Ireland), Montreal Museum (Canada) and Glassammiung Ersting (Germany). 1 Dan Klein, “Frozen Moments in Time: The Work of Galia Amsel”, 2004 2 Dan Klein, "Changing Views", 2007

Galia Amsel 2011 CV P a g e |1

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

GALIA AMSEL b. 1967, lives Auckland EDUCATION 1989-91 1986-89

Royal College of Art, MA Glass Middlesex Polytechnic, BA(Honours) 3-D Design (ceramics and glass, first class honours)

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 2008 2006 2005 2004 2002 2001 1999 1997

Shades of Blue and Clear, Milford Galleries Dunedin Axia Modern Art, Melbourne Masterworks Gallery, Auckland Milford Galleries, Queenstown Masterworks Gallery, Auckland Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid Bullseye Connection Galllery, Portland, Oregon Bullseye Connection Gallery, Portland, Oregon Clara Scremini, Paris Crafts Council at the V&A Clara Scremini, Paris Clara Scremini, Paris

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2010 2008-2010 2006 2005 2001 2000 1998 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991

Capturing Light, Axia Modern Art Glass Invitational NZ, Touring (Canterbury Museum, Milford Galleries Dunedin, Lopdell House, Auckland Koru Gallery, Hong Kong (September) Axia Modern Art, Melbourne Glass Invitational NZ, Touring (Milford Galleries Dunedin, Auckland Museum, Canterbury Museum and Pataka Museum Wellington) 15th Anniversary Show, Braggiotti Gallery Amstersam Studio Glass Gallery, London Jennifer Opie curated show, CAA Jerwood Prize Shortlist Touring Exhibition, Crafts Council The Solomon Gallery, Dublin Venice Aperto Vetro Showcase, Contemporary Applied Arts Galerie L, Hamburg Showcase, Victoria & Albert Museum The Glass Show, Crafts Council Touring Exhibition Glass Show, the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Le Verre, International Exhibition of Contemporary Glass, Rouen Galerie Rob Van den Doel, The Hague, Netherlands Museum of Mankind Showcase

COMMISSIONS Design Portfolio, Carat Globe Coopers and Lybrand/PricewaterhouseCoopers PLC Awards Alternative Investment Market (AIM) Awards Association of Business Sponsorship of the Arts (ABSA) Awards, British Museum Community Hospitals PLC Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, P&O Cruises Charity Awards Lee Valley Regional Parks Authority Tottenham Marshes Lee Valley Regional Parks Authority Three Mill Island

Galia Amsel 2011 CV P a g e |2

Milford Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

AWARDS 2002 2001

Nelson Woo Scholarship London Arts Development Award London Arts Travel Award British Council Exhibiting Grant Invited to Crafts Council Selected Makers Index Shortlisted for Jerwood Prize Awarded Crafts Council Setting Up Grant Winner of Borax Prize Dudley Crystal Festival, Broadfield House Museum, 2nd

1999 1998 1993 1990 1989

COLLECTIONS Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, USA Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, USA Corning Museum of Glass, NY, USA Crafts Council Collection, London Ebeltoft Museum, Denmark Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Glassammlung Ersting, Coefeld-Lette, Germany Mobile Museum of Art, Alabama, USA Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Canada Musee du Verre, Sars Poteries, France Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Palm Springs Museum of Art Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington Turner Museum, Sheffield Ulster Museum, Belfast Victoria & Albert Museum, London, X2

BIBLIOGRAPHY 2005

2004 2002 2000 1998 1997 1996

1993 1991 1992 1990

Corning New Glass Review 26, 2005 21st Century British Glass, Dan Klein, 2005 New Zealand Herald, 16-2-05 New Zealand Listener, May 28-June 3 2005 Metro Magazine, July 2005 25 years of the New Glass Review, Tina Oldnow/Corning Museum of Glass Catalogue, Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid 2004 Neues Glass Corning Glass Review No. 23, 2002 Object Magazine, October 2002 Crafts Magazine, July/August 2000 Crafts Magazine, July/August 1998 Crafts Magazine, March/April 1997 Crafts Magazine, September/October 1996 Interiors Magazine, September 1996 The Saturday Times Magazine, 9/11/96 International New Glass, Venezia Aperto Vetro, 1996 Contemporary British Glass, Crafts Council, January 1993 Conseil Regional de Haute Normandie, December 1991 Neues Glass Corning Review No. 13, February 1992 Le Verre, International Exhibition of Contemporary Glass Neues Glass Corning Review No. 11, February 1990 Glasswork Magazine, Spring 1990

Galia Amsel 2011 CV P a g e |3

Milford Galleries Dunedin