Author(s): Julie Ewington, Tina Oldknow

ART & DESIGN

"Jessica Loughlin creates ethereal artworks in glass that explore her fascination with the beauty of emptiness and her extensive research into light and space. Beginning her artistic pursuit and exploration of the horizon line in her student years she has since dedicated her practice to the pursuit of capturing the transient qualities of light and the quiet sense of contemplation it provokes in the viewer. Known for her understated aesthetic, Loughlin takes her artistic cues from the vast, flat landscapes and salt lakes of South Australia and is particularly drawn to the inherent quietness and stillness of the land. In her practice, Loughlin fuses kiln-formed sheets of both opaque and translucent glass together in flat panels or geometric freestanding pieces that allude to shadow, reflection and refraction. Her work is characterised by a strict reductive sensibility and restricted use of colour with a gentle palette of soft muted hues. Widely celebrated for her thoughtful and instinctual approach to kilnformed glass, together with her innovative technical skills with the medium, Loughlin is one of Australia’s leading contemporary glass artists."