Charcoal Blossom

'Golden Hibiscus' is a unique glass artwork by the Canadian artist, Michèle Oberdieck. Michèle Oberdieck explores balance and asymmetry through co...

'Nesiota' is a unique glass artwork by the Canadian artist, Michèle Oberdieck. Michèle Oberdieck explores balance and asymmetry through colour, fo...

'Knot Wrack' is a unique glass artwork by the Canadian artist, Michèle Oberdieck. Michèle Oberdieck explores balance and asymmetry through colour,...

'Cotinus I' is a unique glass artwork by the Canadian artist, Michèle Oberdieck. Michèle Oberdieck explores balance and asymmetry through colour, form and surface decoration. Presenting her sculptural works as a gesture, an expressive mark, often composing individual elements together, she is fascinated in the narratives that can be created. Drawn to biomorphic structures found in plant growth, life cycles and decay, such as the delicately aging silhouettes of tulip petals, it is these twisted yet beautiful organic shapes, that she aims to capture in her glass. With a background in printmaking and textiles, involving hand dying and screen-printing fine silks, Oberdieck understands the relationship between colour and light, a relationship that is perfect to further explore with glass. As the artist puts it; “The luminosity of colours found in the sky, as day turns to dusk, with the pivotal light from the sun or moon glowing through layers of folded clouds, is captivating.” Oberdieck’s surfaces are achieved by using the classic Swedish technique of Graal; pre-made glass ‘cups’ are externally cut with motifs and patterns. These ‘cups of colour’ are then re-heated and re-blown, as the form evolves and enlarges, these incised marks blend, soften and distort, creating ethereal watery effects. Fascination with the vast array of plant life and flowers, as reflected in Oberdieck’s earlier botanical...