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Drawings in the Sand

There’s something fishy about the little fish sculpture that sits contently on display at the untitled exhibition currently showing at the Majlis Gallery. It’s almost as though the shock of colours within is ‘trapped’ inside the delicate glass structure, frozen in place against its nature.

Perhaps it is this frozen-in-space feel that lends an air of wonder to the piece — but it is a work of beauty all the same. It is also just one part of the latest offering from master glass sculptor Amanda Brisbane.

A glass artist for 20 years, the Welsh-born Brisbane first saw sand casting being done at college when she went to study in the US. “All my work is about texture and organic forms, so sand casting was the perfect skill for me,” says Brisbane, of her choice to make it her speciality. Brisbane’s variation of the technique involves pouring hot molten glass into sand moulds and then stepping in to fashion them by hand. The art, however, lies in completing it in a single stage.

Since the sand moulds are destroyed each time, every attempt results in a unique 3D one-off that cannot be reproduced, least of all, replicated. To Brisbane, it is this sheer spontaneity and flexibility that makes the process so interesting — and also, what has her hooked. “I work with the material as it cools, picking them up and twisting them into various shapes. The ideas for shapes evolve naturally both from works I’ve done before — and from drawing in the sand,” she says, simply.

Brisbane works on four to five pieces everyday, as each needs to be left for hours (and sometimes even overnight) to cool. “The collection is based on themes of flowers, sea form vessels and the like.” While her work takes her travelling around the world for exhibitions in the US, South Africa and Australia, Brisbane has, more recently, completed a major project for The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai, by creating a six metre-high sculpture for its main reception and 70 more works around the hotel. Made up of 300 pieces, the project took eight months to complete and is inspired by the spirals found on conch shells.

“My only wish for the audience here is to allow themselves to be excited and enjoy some very unique glass works as it is a very different way of working with glass,” she says. “It’s probably why we have such a big presence in the US and the Middle East.”

Off the cuff, does she have a name for the ongoing exhibition? Brisbane pauses a moment to think before answering, “I think ‘Vibrant Colours from the Furnace’ would be a fitting title.” After you’ve checked out the 30 glass works that remain at the gallery until December 31, no doubt, you’ll think so, too.

karen@khaleejtimes.com