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COBI COCKBURN

Glass Artist, NSW, Australia

Cobi Cockburn was the recipient of the 2006 Ranamok Glass Prize and the 2007 Talente Prize for Glass. She is creating beautiful glass work which is being admired from collectors around the globe.Cobi held her first solo exhibition with Sabbia Gallery in June 2007, which was a much anticipated event.

Cobi says about her work and practice: Graduating from Sydney College of the Arts in 2001 and completing my Honours degree at The Australian National University in 2006 were critical stages in my practice, which now combines hotshop, coldshop and kiln forming techniques.

The major inspirations behind my current work are the unique beauty of the natural environment and our ability to gather natural fibres from it to create hand-woven, nurturing forms. In producing this body of work, it was important to me to combine this fascination with my personal experience as a young mother and artist and produce tactile glass objects that echoed life and celebrated growth within this rich landscape.

Focussing on the cradling shapes of basketry as a reference point to develop my forms, and the seasonal colours of the native grasses to develop my palette and incorporate a sense of place, I hope to create delicate and unique objects that reflect this extraordinary environment.

I have chosen glass as my means of expression, believing it holds the colours, movement and touch of the maker's hand in an honest, stable and incredibly beautiful medium. With the layering of fine hues in both opacity and transparency, I'm able to create very intricate, soft and fibrous patterns. Additionally, and uniquely, glass has dual states of fluidity and stability. Its warm period enables me to manipulate my forms and, as the material begins to cool, the expressive object stabilises, capturing the uniqueness of the moment.

My research has involved gathering and researching native grasses, experimenting with glass varieties and manipulation techniques, and researching secondary materials, such as fibre flax and plaster-silica, for mould making.