ANU mourns the death of Klaus Moje AO

Klaus Moje AO, who founded the Glass Workshop at the ANU School of Art, has died aged 79.

 

The glass artist, who was born in Germany, moved to Australia in 1982 to serve as the inaugural head of the ANU Glass Workshop.

 

Klaus was renowned for pioneering the use of kiln-formed glass - a technique he mastered shortly after his arrival in Australia. This technique was subsequently adopted by hundreds of artists around the world.

 

Associate Professor Richard Whiteley, Head of the ANU Glass Workshop, said Klaus changed what glass could be and how it was taught.

 

Associate Professor Whiteley was part of the first group of students Klaus taught after the ANU Glass Workshop was founded.

 

"Klaus' vision for excellence was matched with his distinctively personable approach," he said.

 

"We have all benefited from his persistence and have grown within the culture he envisioned and realised."

 

Klaus was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2006 for his service to the visual arts.

 

He left the ANU Glass Workshop in 1992 to focus on his own work, but he continued to mentor future students and collaborate with glass artists who honed their skills in the workshop.

 

In 2015, he co-headlined with Associate Professor Whiteley in one of his last exhibitions, at the Lorch+Seidel Contemporary gallery in Germany.

 

Associate Professor Denise Ferris, Head of the ANU School of Art, spoke of Klaus' kindness to her as a new academic to the ANU in 1987.

 

"He was the great Klaus Moje," she said.

 

"He was always incredibly buoyant. He was a very generous colleague.

 

"Glass here is his legacy. His reputation and what we could do brought people here from all over the world - and still does."

 

Read the ANU School of Art's obituary for Klaus Moje, penned by Associate Professor Richard Whiteley.