Hilary Crawford, Sugar Town and other works

HILARY CRAWFORD (Australian b. 1973) Sugar Town (from the series, “City of Bits”) 2001 Height  23 cm Diameter: 10.2cm Acquired December 2001 109633

Biography:

Hilary Crawford is one of Australia's leading contemporary artists working in the glass and ceramics.

Crawford’s initial studies were at the Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Canada before returning to Australia to undertake studies in ceramics and glass at the University of South Australia.

Crawford’s works are readily identifiable due to her use of ‘the glass murine technique’; “murine” are coloured patterns or images made in a glass cane that are revealed when the cane is cut into thin cross-sections.

Crawford has exhibited consistently throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Europe. She was a recipient of the Pole Turners Scholarship to the renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State, USA. Her work has been acquired by Canberra Museum and Gallery, University of Canberra Art Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia and Palm Springs Art Museum (California, USA).

Artwork:

“Sugar-Town”, from the series, “City of Bits” was one of the works produced by Crawford for her graduation exhibition in 2001 at the Australian National University, Canberra.

Crawford created this work using black and white glass in a kiln formed fused technique. This is where the glass is heated to a state that different components fuse and bond together without being so hot that the glass melts. This is usually carried out in a flat area of the kiln to form a fused blank. The blank is then re-heated in the kiln so that it sags into its shape- this is sometimes called draping or slumping.[1]

[1] ^{Note: From print-out KE-EMu catalogue accessed  8 October 2018 pdf Curator's file}