Tim Shaw

“I tend to create both through inspiration and intuition.
Sometimes it’s a long and arduous process to even get the glass to do what I want it to do – and it’s ultimately in the hands of the glass gods really. I think that’s what I love about it the most though…”
 

Tim has been a professional practising glass artist all his working life. He works primarily with glass, but often also incorporates other materials into his artworks. His unmistakable style is a result of years mastering his skill and continually exploring his creativity.

Born in Cyprus and raised in Yorkshire, Tim has explored his artistic practice and glassmaking skills throughout the world. He has three degrees in glassblowing. Attaining his BA (Hons) from North Staffordshire Polytechnic in the UK in the early 80’s, he went on to study at the avant-garde Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, where he continued to develop and experiment creating a unique style of art glass. Upon his return to the UK Tim established a hot glass workshop in London. Whilst there he was invited to undertake his second MA at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London. Here he further refined and honed his glassmaking skills whilst pushing the boundaries of his artistic expression.

Moving permanently to Australia in 2002, Tim is currently based with his family and hot glass studio nestled in the stringy bark forests of the Adelaide Hills. Travel is still a large part of Tim’s practice however, and he finds exhibiting and teaching, both nationally and internationally, inspiring, and motivational. He has exhibited numerous times at the Sculptural Objects and Functional Art fair in Chicago (SOFA) and has taught in South Africa, Swaziland, Turkey, and the UK. Tim has also been a finalist in the Ranamok Glass Prize (2001, 2003 & 2012), The South Australian Natural History Art Prize, and Pro Hart Outback Art Prize among others. His work is collected worldwide and housed in both private and museum collections.

Tim has a unique style that often challenges the traditional concept of the vessel and transports the viewer into alternate realms. His well-known ‘Slash and Cut’ series illustrate this, where the process involves cold carving blown glass forms to sculpt the surface, often exposing the interior of his vessels. This in turn reveals the depth and consideration of colour, light, texture and form in creating his artwork. This is a radical approach that by nature is both dangerous and exhilarating – perhaps a bit of the adventurous boy inside Tim that he never wishes to grow out of! It can be a little safer than his motorbike though…

The resulting works are both elegant and steeped in raw energy, exploring bold and vibrant colours, ethereal landscapes and communicating the passion that Tim undoubtedly transfers into his work. He describes his work process as both combinations of glassblowing and painting in the hot blowing stages and sculpting and drawing in the cold working stages.

Over the years Tim has also increasingly incorporated lighting into his work. A planetary series of Slash and Cut spheres encouraged Tim to regularly produce lamps within his collections. It is a challenging balance of luminosity, transparency, and texture, but with intriguing results. Chandeliers have also been a favourite during Tim’s career- literally ‘growing’ over the years from opulent grape vines to giant clusters of tulips, sunflowers, and proteas. These floral arrangements of light and glass have in recent years progressed into large vase-based table light sculptures.