Claudia Borella

Claudia Borella was born in Canberra, Australia. She now lives and practices in New Zealand. Originally trained as an Industrial Designer at the University of Canberra in the late 1980’s, she later specialised in glass and graduated from the Australian National University’s Canberra School of Art. Borella has participated widely in solo and group exhibitions in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, USA, UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Denmark. She has been the recipient of several awards including the David Thomas Award from The Dowse Museum in Wellington, New Zealand, 2003; Gold Medal and State Prize, Talente 98, Munich, Germany, 1998; Kyohei Fujita Prize, Young Glass 97 Competition, Denmark, 1997 and the Institute of the Arts Acquisition Award, Canberra, 1995. She has also been a finalist in several award exhibitions including, Ranamok Glass Prize, Sydney, 2006; City of Whyalla Art Prize, South Australia, 2005 and the RFC Glass Prize (now Ranamok), Sydney, 1996, 1999 & 2000.

Her work is represented in public, corporate and private collections nationally and internationally including, Sir Elton John, New York, USA; Toyama Institute of Glass Art, Japan; Dowse Museum, New Zealand; Merrill Lynch Corporate Collection, Australia; National Gallery of Australia Collection, Australia; Art Bank Collection, Australia; Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery, Australia; Glasmuseum, Denmark; A & D Plummer Collection, Australia; The Australian National University, Institute of the Arts Collection, Australia; Private Collection of Mehoudar Raphael, Israel and the Bullseye Glass Collection, USA.

Claudia Borella’s elegant, fused and slumped glass forms use intense opaque colours which act as a refined foil for distinctive op-art influenced designs – often in striking bands or fields of contrasting or complimentary colour. Borella’s glass forms adapt archetypal symbols of transition or rites of passage to her own personal journey from Australia to her new home in New Zealand, and it is these passages that allude to possible life journeys at a deeper level.