Through the connection to memories, this appealing teddy bear invites a cuddly embrace. Once a reassuring comforter of past hurts and pains, holder of secrets and provider of security, the soft furry warm coat has been replaced with sharp, cold, hard, fragile shards of glass. The shape and form invoke the childhood memory that invite the viewer to touch and cuddle, but it's also overplayed with the words from a protective adult: "look, but don't touch".
My childhood memories dissipated as the work progressed over many hours layering thousands of individual shards of glass. No longer the special friend discarded or allotted a place on the shelf as an impassive conveyer of childhood emotion, it now wears a protective heavy armour. Marta Klonowska, Robert Bradford, and Jeff Koons provided me with inspiration for my practice, which focuses on using discarded objects.
Currently undertaking her third year of a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the University of South Australia specializing in glass, Adelaide based artist Glenda Kent has already contributed three sculptures this year in the Brighton Jetty Classic Sculpture exhibition, having previously been included in the joint exhibition Retrospective at the Tooth and Nail Gallery.
Earlier this year Glenda was also part of the team producing a 19 metre mural with Richard Bell for the Adelaide Festival of Arts. In 2014 Glenda received the Dawn Slade-Faull Award for her glass works.
silicon, vitrified glass shards, soft toy
28 x 22 x 16 cm
Highly Commended; Finalist
Glenda Kent, in conversation with Professor Ian Howard, discusses her work bared and answers questions from the audience. Recorded on 15 October 2016 at the exhibition.
Judges of the 2016 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Wendy Whiteley OAM (Ambassador for the visual arts), Rhonda Davis (Senior Curator at Macquarie University Art Gallery) and Barry Keldoulis (CEO and Group Fairs Director of Art Fairs Australia).
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