Nick Wirdnam

Nick Wirdnam is widely respected both as an artist and a teacher. For many years he was instrumental in mentoring and teaching a new generation of glass artists at Monash University, Melbourne. He now works from his own private glass studio in Melbourne. Wirdnam has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia, United Kingdom, Asia and the United States. In 2000, 2002 and 2004 he was a finalist in the Ranamok Prize for Contemporary Glass, Sydney. Nick Wirdnam's work has been acquired by various public collections including, National Gallery Australia, Canberra; Glass Museum Niijima, Japan; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane Australia; Ebeltoft Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Denmark; Northlands Creative Glass Collection, Lybster, Scotland and the National Glass Collection, Wagga Wagga.

'Nick Wirdnam's distinctive installations exemplify the potency of thematic focus in developing a personal metaphorical language in glass. In 2002 he introduced hot-formed fish as the central poetic element of his sculptures, around which he has since developed a number of permutations. Their exquisite, finely textured skin captures light, creating a luminous glow. Metal stands suspend or support the fish, so that they appear like translucent floating entities - part matter, part spirit. This ethereal beauty is resonant with, though not reliant on, wider symbolic associations of fish in different cultures. For the artist they are also a personal and private narrative language embedded in his own life story. Some morph into human hands while others appear closer to tears (a similar more abstracted shape). For the viewer, their elusive ambiguity leaves imaginative space for personal meanings'.

"Australian Glass Today" Margot Osborne 2005, Wakefield Press