March Friends Night | Artist talk with Harriet Schwarzrock

The recent March Friends night at Kambri Cultural Centre featured an artist talk with ANU School of Art & Design PhD candidate, Harriet Schwarzrock. She gave a fascinating talk on her research and explained the technicalities of working with neon and plasma in her blown-glass objects. Members were invited to touch and explore works in progress from her studio, which react and move when touched.  She explained that as the plasma seeks an ‘earth’ to ground,  human touch acts as an earth causing the plasma to move towards the human body.  Below are some photos from the event.

Harriet Schwarzrock graduated from Sydney College of the Arts in 1999 with Honours in Visual Arts, majoring in glass, after transferring from a science degree. As a visual artist interested in biological systems and connectivity, Schwarzrocks practice has recently embraced creating neon and plasma elements. This vibrant form of illumination has developed in step with her material knowledge of glass. Drawn to glass’ ability to contain and give form to the invisible, recent explorations have embraced interactive illumination to describe the subtle electricity within our bodies.

Having graduated from Sydney College of the Arts in the late 90’s, Schwarzrock has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and abroad. Assisting regularly and refining her glassblowing, through participating in masterclasses, being mentored and learning from her esteemed friends and colleagues. Whilst developing skills and inspiration for her own work. Her practice is currently based in Queanbeyan, NSW, in a home studio where she and her partner Matthew Curtis run a hot glassblowing studio.

Her work is widely collected, and she has won various awards and been selected for prestigious residencies, including Canberra Glassworks Art Group Fellowship, the Asialink Toyama residency and the ANU Procter Fellowship. Recently her public artwork ‘murmuration’ secured the ACT’s Pamille Berg; Art in Architecture award. Her illuminated plasma heart installations have been exhibited at the Canberra Glassworks, the Berengo studio; Venice, Murano and the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

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