Glass graduates Berlin bound
Marcel Hoogstad Hay working in the glass studio at the JamFactory.
Three graduates from the Glass Workshop at the ANU School of Art will take up residencies in Berlin in 2015 after they were awarded prestigious Endeavour scholarships.
The scholarship recipients, Alex Frasersmith, Charles Walker and Marcel Hoogstad Hay, will use the awards to study at Berlin Glas e.V, a non-profit association that gives professional artists and students the opportunity to work with hot glass in Berlin.
This is the second group of ANU graduates going to Berlin thanks to a new agreement between Berlin Glas e.V and the ANU Glass Workshop. This year, ANU graduates Ruth Oliphant and Madeline Prowd completed residencies there.
Since graduating from ANU in 2012 with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours), Marcel, one of the recipients, has been working as an associate at the glass studio of the JamFactory in Adelaide.
He was awarded a full Endeavour Executive Fellowship of $18,500, and says he is surprised but relieved to receive the award so he can make the most of his four month stay in Berlin.
“I was surprised to get the Endeavour grant because it’s so competitive and prestigious, and not specifically related to visual arts,” he says.
“I think it’s really important for people to get these opportunities coming out of institutions like the JamFactory or art school, because it helps keep momentum going early on in your career.
“This is my first residency and the fact that it’s an international one is pretty awesome.”
While in Berlin, Marcel will research street art in Berlin – looking in particular at abandoned spaces and at how street art and graffiti has transformed the urban landscape.
“There are a few specific places I want to see, so I’ll be going to sites, documenting them and then going back to the glass studio to make work that’s influenced by this,” he says.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to make more experimental art after working mostly on production work at JamFactory.
“Berlin is a centre for contemporary art, so it’s also about cultural exchange, making a connection with the new studio and working with other glassblowers as it’s such a collaborative industry.”