GALIA AMSEL

Milford Galleries Dunedin18 Dowling Street (03) 477 7727 [email protected]

2nd - 27th April, 2011

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Galia AmselShades of Blue and Clear

1. GALIA AMSEL, Surf 9 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture, acid etched & polished, size

cast glass, sandblasted texture, acid etched & polished, size (v x h x d): 513 x 748 x 155 mm

1. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Surf 9 (2011)

1. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Surf 9 (2011)

2. GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture, acid etched & polished, size


2. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011)

2. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Blew (2011)

3. GALIA AMSEL, Floe 2 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture, acid etched & polished, size


3. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Floe 2 (2011)

3. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Floe 2 (2011)

4. GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011) cast glass, sandblasted texture, acid etched & polished, size


4. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011)

4. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Inner Spirit 3 (2011)

5. GALIA AMSEL, Antarctic Drift 3 (2008) cast glass, hand smoothed & polished, size

cast glass, hand smoothed & polished, size (v x h x d): 285 x 965 x 134 mm

5. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Antarctic Drift 3 (2008)

5. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, Antarctic Drift 3 (2008)

6. GALIA AMSEL, White Squall 5 (2010) cast glass, hand smoothed & polished, size


6. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, White Squall 5 (2010)

6. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, White Squall 5 (2010)

7. GALIA AMSEL, West Wind Drift 3 (2010) cast glass, hand smoothed & polished, size


7. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, West Wind Drift 3 (2010)

7. DETAIL VIEW GALIA AMSEL, West Wind Drift 3 (2010)

A “gentle change” is occurring in Galia Amsel’s glass. It’s been in

process for some while. From 2004, when she moved to NZ, narratives of

landscape and natural event emerged, adding expressive and

atmospheric qualities to the triangulated, geometric shapes and

abstract substance existing.

Amsel’s visual language is also substantially design and form based,

with the drama of space, motion, fluid colour and varied mass integral.

Her works vibrate with light and the numerous and varied finishing

techniques used come to mean important individualised things in each

work. The incomplete open circle and the certainty of line begin

talking. Her works have architectural presence and become ritualistic

objects.

The slow evolution in her work means Amsel is combining the old and

new together. This progressive, sequential development of her work

strengthens and broadens it. To the observational quality existing,

Amsel is beginning to add meaning. The new “Inner Spirit” series hints at

an alternative direction and a more personal content. The metaphoric,

symbolism of an hourglass shape occupies the centre, seeming to rise

up and down like bubbles in an oil lamp. The technical complexity of

the layering and fusing, of slumping and bending processes, and

casting is hidden by a sense of spontaneity.

“White Squall” (2010), “West Wind Drift” (2010), reference and capture

weather phenomenon in choreography of motion and moment. “Surf

9” (2011) bends; delivering a sliced wave about to fall. “Floe” (2011)

and “Antarctic Drift 3” (2008) speak of ice flow and reveal a

representational impulse.

The ambiguously titled “Blew” (2011) introduces a remarkable new

form. Each rising end enters the air blade-like, seeming to twist,

crossover and change position.

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T

1 Surf 9 (2011) 14,500

2 Blew (2011) 14,000

3 Floe 2 (2011) 15,000

4 Inner Spirit 3 (2011) 12,500

5 Antarctic Drift 3 (2008) 11,250

6 White Squall 5 (2010) 14,500

7 West Wind Drift 3 (2010) 15,000

Galia Amsel 2011 CV Milford Galleries Dunedin www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 1

GALIA AMSEL b. 1967, lives Auckland

Flare 2 (2010)

Galia Amsel’s work is characterised by exploration of colour, form, motion and intervention. The

simplicity of her work comes from a “highly developed visual sense” and spatial harmonies founded in

“geometry and the resolution of mathematical formulae”. Her basic shapes are the forms of a circle,

rectangle or square which have been “broken open or interrupted in some way” and these openings

“always create drama and tension.” Inevitably, the “empty spaces… are as important as those

occupied by the glass mass.”(1)

Galia has experimented "boldly with form. The circles and rectangles of her earlier work have opened

up and found new spatial rhythms, new points of balance. Large open circular and oval forms balance

on 'tip toe' reminiscent of a dancer on point. They are perfectly stable but balletic movement is implied

in the way they are constructed. Her technical mastery also allows for gradations of colour and

transparency, that makes the work vibrate with light". (2)

Amsel’s work has the beguiling presence of various surface textures and cold-working techniques

(polishing, sandblasting, resist masking etc). These assist the expressive qualities of the work while also

defining shape and substance. Her work is certain and concise, expressive and atmospheric. In

addition, light is confined inside the mass of colour, revealing atmospheres, establishing tones and

contrast. Her works are ritualistic objects, with internal space frozen in time. They establish the rhythms of

a moment attained. Narratives of landscape and natural event emerge: such as when rain is falling -

vision becomes impaired, space becomes shortened and restricted.

Born 1967 London, Amsel currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1989 she gained a Bachelor of

Arts, first class honours, in 3-D Design (ceramics and glass) with Middlesex Polytechnic, London and in

1991, a Masters in Glass with Royal College of Art, London. Amsel has exhibited in the USA, Spain,

France, Netherlands and New Zealand including a significant solo show at Museo de Arte an Vidrio de

Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain (2004). She is represented in numerous internationally significant collections,

including Corning Museum (USA), Crafts Council Collection (London), Glasmuseet Ebeltoft (Denmark),

Te Papa (NZ), Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), Ulster Museum (Ireland), Montreal Museum (Canada)

and Glassammiung Ersting (Germany).

1 Dan Klein, “Frozen Moments in Time: The Work of Galia Amsel”, 2004

2 Dan Klein, "Changing Views", 2007


P a g e | 2

GALIA AMSEL b. 1967, lives Auckland

EDUCATION

1989-91 Royal College of Art, MA Glass

1986-89 Middlesex Polytechnic, BA(Honours) 3-D Design (ceramics and glass, first class honours)

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 Shades of Blue and Clear, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2008 Axia Modern Art, Melbourne

2006 Masterworks Gallery, Auckland

2005 Milford Galleries, Queenstown

Masterworks Gallery, Auckland

2004 Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid

Bullseye Connection Galllery, Portland, Oregon

2002 Bullseye Connection Gallery, Portland, Oregon

Clara Scremini, Paris

2001 Crafts Council at the V&A

1999 Clara Scremini, Paris

1997 Clara Scremini, Paris

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010 Capturing Light, Axia Modern Art

2008-2010 Glass Invitational NZ, Touring (Canterbury Museum, Milford Galleries Dunedin, Lopdell

House, Auckland

2006 Koru Gallery, Hong Kong (September)

Axia Modern Art, Melbourne

2005 Glass Invitational NZ, Touring (Milford Galleries Dunedin, Auckland Museum, Canterbury

Museum and Pataka Museum Wellington)

2001 15th Anniversary Show, Braggiotti Gallery Amstersam

2000 Studio Glass Gallery, London

1998 Jennifer Opie curated show, CAA

Jerwood Prize Shortlist Touring Exhibition, Crafts Council

1996 The Solomon Gallery, Dublin

Venice Aperto Vetro

1995 Showcase, Contemporary Applied Arts

1994 Galerie L, Hamburg

Showcase, Victoria & Albert Museum

1993 The Glass Show, Crafts Council Touring Exhibition

Glass Show, the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1992 Le Verre, International Exhibition of Contemporary Glass, Rouen

Galerie Rob Van den Doel, The Hague, Netherlands

1991 Museum of Mankind Showcase

COMMISSIONS

Design Portfolio, Carat Globe

Coopers and Lybrand/PricewaterhouseCoopers PLC Awards

Alternative Investment Market (AIM) Awards

Association of Business Sponsorship of the Arts (ABSA) Awards, British Museum

Community Hospitals PLC

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, P&O Cruises

Charity Awards

Lee Valley Regional Parks Authority Tottenham Marshes

Lee Valley Regional Parks Authority Three Mill Island


P a g e | 3

AWARDS

2002 Nelson Woo Scholarship

2001 London Arts Development Award

London Arts Travel Award

British Council Exhibiting Grant

1999 Invited to Crafts Council Selected Makers Index

1998 Shortlisted for Jerwood Prize

1993 Awarded Crafts Council Setting Up Grant

1990 Winner of Borax Prize

1989 Dudley Crystal Festival, Broadfield House Museum, 2nd

COLLECTIONS

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburg, USA

Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, USA

Corning Museum of Glass, NY, USA

Crafts Council Collection, London

Ebeltoft Museum, Denmark

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Glassammlung Ersting, Coefeld-Lette, Germany

Mobile Museum of Art, Alabama, USA

Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Canada

Musee du Verre, Sars Poteries, France

Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Palm Springs Museum of Art

Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead

Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington

Turner Museum, Sheffield

Ulster Museum, Belfast

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, X2

BIBLIOGRAPHY 2005 Corning New Glass Review 26, 2005

21st Century British Glass, Dan Klein, 2005

New Zealand Herald, 16-2-05

New Zealand Listener, May 28-June 3 2005

Metro Magazine, July 2005

25 years of the New Glass Review, Tina Oldnow/Corning Museum of Glass

2004 Catalogue, Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcon, Madrid 2004

2002 Neues Glass Corning Glass Review No. 23, 2002

Object Magazine, October 2002

2000 Crafts Magazine, July/August 2000

1998 Crafts Magazine, July/August 1998

1997 Crafts Magazine, March/April 1997

1996 Crafts Magazine, September/October 1996

Interiors Magazine, September 1996

The Saturday Times Magazine, 9/11/96

International New Glass, Venezia Aperto Vetro, 1996

1993 Contemporary British Glass, Crafts Council, January 1993

1991 Conseil Regional de Haute Normandie, December 1991

1992 Neues Glass Corning Review No. 13, February 1992

Le Verre, International Exhibition of Contemporary Glass

1990 Neues Glass Corning Review No. 11, February 1990

Glasswork Magazine, Spring 1990

Documents

GALIA AMSEL