Nicole Ayliffe

She is currently exhibiting her work both nationally and internationally, including the USA, UK and Asia. Her work has been collected in Museums including The Glasmuseum; Germany, Octavia Hill’s Museum; England, The Parliament House Art Collection; Canberra and the National Glass Collection at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery. She has also gained recognition in many art awards, including being selected as a finalist in the Ranamok Glass Prize 2005 & 2006, the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize and Young Glass International, Ebeltoft, Denmark. 

Nicole uses the optical qualities of glass to create a three-dimensional illusion of space within her work. The ‘Optical Landscape’ series combines both hot blown glass and photographic imagery. The black and white images reference the Australian landscape, and are highlighted by the refraction of light through the glass form. Many of the photographic images have been taken along the coastline of Australia, where she spends much of her time surfing and exploring the natural environment. She also finds inspiration in the repetition of line within the landscape, such as ploughed fields, the rows of vineyards or the furrowed lines on the surface of the sand. These types of reoccurring patterns respond particularly well with the thickness of the glass forms, creating movement, depth and distortion. This repetition of line within the landscape led to the development of the ‘Optical Drawing’ series, where she has drawn lines onto the glass form with coloured stringers of glass. Each glass piece is created with a different shape, thickness and form, creating a variation in optical qualities. 

Nicole’s series ‘A moment in Time’, are at once contemporary and nostalgic. Transparency, distortion and a sense of suspension, suggest the hazy realm of memory and imagination. It is these qualities that are fused with patterns inspired by childhood recollections. The rectangular glass forms act as fragments of the past, framed within the beauty of a three dimensional space, whilst the cylindrical forms provide a blank surface in which these patterns have been etched onto.

2010 

Participant, Alasdair Gordon Engraving Masterclass, Canberra Glassworks, ACT 

 2005  

Bachelor of Visual Arts Specialisation (Honours-1st class), Glass major, SASA, Adelaide 

Participant, Scott Chaseling Blowing Fused Glass Workshop, Jam Factory,  Adelaide 

 2001-2004 

Bachelor of Visual Arts (Specialisation), Glass major, SASA, Adelaide