The Hindmarsh Prize

Amazing news hot off the press is that my work, Under the Microscope, has been selected for the inaugural Hindmarsh Prize for glass.....yes, you read it correctly... GLASS!

Under The Microscope (Photo: Deb Jurss)

This body of work was created during my 2015 GLINT residency (see previous posts) as a sample for much larger works in glass for future exhibition.  My idea was to create a series of large microscope slides reminiscent of Victorian scientific microscope slides.

Image: http://www.victorianmicroscopeslides.com/slides.htm

These slides were beautifully decorated with printed papers designed by the different individuals or firms who specialised in the preparation of scientific slides for scientists or collectors.  They have become highly collectable themselves, unfortunately well out of my price range, but luckily I have access to the Cryptogam Herbarium at the Australian National Botanic Gardens who hold a lovely collection of Victorian glass slides of diatoms.

Detail image of my slide which has been printed and sandblasted

The image I have used in my slide above is an SEM of Phaeoceros inflatus by Dr Christine Cargill surrounded by a textile damask design typical of the Victorian era. Dr Cargill and I have worked for many years since our ANAT Synapse residency back in 2005, and we do joke that it is the art-sci collaboration that just keeps on giving!

The Hindmarsh Prize is specifically for artists who work in glass from the ACT region, and there were 18 shortlisted artists from a field of 31. More information about the Hindmarsh prize, and a sneek peak at each artist's entry, can be found here