Awarded biennially in alternate years to the FUSE Glass Prize, JamFactory’s new FUSE Glass Artist Residency aims to create significant opportunities for mid-career artists working in glass in Australia and New Zealand.
Congratulations to South Australian artist Alex Valero, the inaugural recipient of FUSE Glass Artist Residency.
Alex Valero, COMM, 2017, hot sculpted and coldworked glass. Photograph: Grant Hancock
The Residency, valued at more than $20,000, will enable Valero to work with skilled assistants, take risks and experiment with the development of new work using hot blown glass. In addition, Valero will receive accommodation, studio space, and living expenses for four weeks at JamFactory in Adelaide between March and August 2021.
A further outcome of the Residency will be a solo exhibition at Carrick Hill – the iconic South Australian historic house museum and garden, due to open an impressive new, purpose-built exhibition space in November 2020.
Valero was chosen from a competitive field of applicants by a panel of three judges – the venerated South Australian glass artist Nick Mount, the current Head of JamFactory’s Glass Studio Kristel Britcher and the Director of Carrick Hill Tony Kanellos. They were impressed with Valero’s innovative and experimental approach to working with hot glass and his exploration of ideas drawn from philosophy, science and science fiction. As an early mid-career artist, the judges believed he was ideally placed to benefit substantially from the opportunities afforded by this important new Residency.
