Felicity Smith – Painting, jewellery, glass art

26-27 May, 2012

Felicity Smith

Studio:
Boonah Butter Factory
10 Railway Street, Boonah

WHAT YOU WILL SEE

Felicity Smith is a multi-faceted artist, skilled in fine drawing, painting and sculpture. Glass is her medium of choice and her glass work will be the focus of her Open Studio in Boonah’s historic Butter Factory.
“Glass is like nothing else, it has all the characteristics of liquid but it’s not a liquid. It’s eccentric “Glass keeps you on your toes; it can never be taken for granted. I like that.”
Felicity has been working with glass since the late 1980s when she first arrived to Australia and secured a job working in a Brisbane leadlight studio. She works across the board in glass, moving easily between large stained glass feature installations, through to sculptural works and table centre-pieces to bold fashion jewellery statements. Her unique, richly-coloured glass works, are beautiful to look at and functional.
Felicity Smith was born in Zimbabwe, educated in Ireland, has worked in England and Africa and has lived in Australia since 1988. Her lifetime ‘on the move’ continues to provide much of Felicity’s inspiration for her art creations.

GLASS REFLECTIONS

Felicity has developed a following as a talented fine artist having been awarded the prestigious John Olsen scholarship to attend Sydney’s Julian Ashton Art School in 2007. Since then she has worked to incorporate her fine arts training into her studio glass practice which will be featured during Open Studios.
“As you develop and grow as an artist you find new ways to express yourself through your medium,” says Felicity.
Felicity’s current practice stems from her leadlight apprenticeship in the late 1980’s when she secured a job working in architectural (leadlight) glass studio. She began in the putty room – a dirty, monotonous and unglamorous job which involves applying liquid putty to the leadlight panels and scrubbing them back with whiting to waterproof them before they are antiqued and blacked with stove polish.
After six months Felicity was ‘allowed’ out and she began restoration and repairs to old panels. Her apprenticeship progressed from there until she was ultimately trusted with the design and manufacture of leadlight panels for domestic architecture.
“I love the way the light interacts with glass. I can’t walk into a cathedral without being moved by the colour of the glass and the magical effects of the light passing through the glass. Taking that magic and putting it into someone’s home, well that’s the privilege of my trade.”

GALLERY GLASS – Hot, Warm or Cold?

After a decade working with ‘cold’ glass Felicity moved into the area of ‘warm glass and ‘hot’ glass.
“During my apprenticeship, I learned all about cold glasswork, which his reliable and predictable,” Felicity continues. “Warm glass by contrast is very temperamental, it’s unforgiving and you need to be disciplined and forward thinking in your approach.
‘Warm’ glass, also known as kiln-fired glass, involves casting and fusing different layers of glass and design elements together. The kiln is used to liquefy the glass under extremely high temperatures and then a gradual temperature reduction process to return to the molten glass to a solid form.
Typical firings last about 22 hours each and temperature control is critical. The heating up and cooling down processes must be precisely calculated according to the design and materials used to ensure the glass expands and contracts at the same rate so that there are no internal stresses which can lead to breakages.
The fused piece may then undergo a second or third firing before being ready for cold working which may include cutting, grinding, bevelling and polishing. The process is lengthy and often problematic.
“When you load the kiln you are taking a calculated risk. You know what should happen, but it might not. It’s challenging and frustrating – you’re working with your medium but it’s answering you back. “There’s the science of glass and then there’s the feel.  Feel develops over time.  So far I’ve invested more than twenty years in the medium and I still love to pick up my cutter and start my studio day!”

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Felicity says the close community of Boonah is a supportive environment for professional artists.
“I like the contrast of living in a traditional close knit community with ready access to what the cities have to offer. I am very close to my markets in the city, but far enough away to maintain the solitude I need to work effectively.”
“Being part of a rural community is also very enabling, I believe your sense of identity is more complete in a small community,” she says. “There are down sides: everybody knows your business, but then if you fall in a heap and you need a hand, you get that very quickly.
Felicity is currently teaching a 24-week fine art course in Boonah as part of the Regional Arts Development Fund programme. She describes it as a privilege, an opportunity to give back to the community which has been so generous to her.
“Talent is a very small part of the artist’s life. The ability to get up day after day and face yourself as an artist takes some doing.” says Felicity. “You square up to yourself each time, examine your interpretations of the world, what you find aesthetically pleasing, and re-present that to your audience.
“This process of opening up a dialogue between the subject, the artist and the viewer is quite risky, you deliberately place yourself in a vulnerable position and wait for the viewer’s response. When the dialogue starts, that’s when the magic happens.”