T: (+61) 02 9351 1076
E: J.Gavan@sca.usyd.edu.au
born 1962 Sydney, NSW
lives in Sydney, NSW
Throughout her studio practice of ten years and time as head of the Glass Studio, Jane Gavan has maintained an interest in exploring and challenging the parameters of contemporary object design/making in glass. Her national and international experience in glassmaking and exhibiting informs a broad and interdisciplinary understanding of the role of glass as a material in contemporary object art and design. Her interests in light, space and visual communication combine and recombine in each project where an emphasis on formal or conceptual concerns is mediated through appropriate processes and materials.
Major projects include a collaborative woven beadwork with blown glass in Venice and an interdisciplinary test case, developing a material science and material culture history of the colourant fluorescent pink. Her current project is developing a process of casting glass in the form of the magnified surface of a butterfly wing to examine the optical effects that can be achieved using cast lead crystal. This project is using computer-driven milling to produce a mould that is a faithful replica of the wing surface taken from photos of electron microscopic images. The resulting work will be a screen of textured glass suitable for an interior wall.
Jane Gavan was awarded a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from University of Sydney in 2002 and a Graduate Diploma of Gallery Management, University of NSW, Sydney, in 1989. Her undergraduate degrees include Bachelor Visual Arts (Glass), Sydney College of the Arts, and Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts), University of Sydney, in 1988. She has been the recipient of several Australia Council grants, and a University of Sydney research and development grant.
teaching and workshops
2005
- Visiting Artist Lecture, School of American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA
- Gateway to GAS, presented at one-day symposium, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney, NSW
2002-current
- Appointed to position of Lecturer Glass Studio (full-time), Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, NSW
2000
- Visiting Lecturer, Glass Studio, and Sydney College of the Arts
1996-97
-Tutor in Glass, Waverly Woollahra Arts Centre, Bondi, NSW
1991-92
- Lecturer in Design and Studio Theory (part-time), Glass Studio, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney, NSW
1988-90
- Vice President, board member, Crafts Council NSW, Sydney, NSW
collections
Black urn
2000
glass beads woven with wire,
30 x 1.3cm diam, courtesy the artist
Landscape document 2
2004
controlled devitrified glass, kiln-fired, cold-worked,
16 x 60 x 150cm, courtesy the artist
Soft light
2002
glass beads woven with wire,
22 x 12cm diam, courtesy the artist
Milk bowl
2003
woven beads with blown glass,
23 x 30 cm diam, courtesy the artist