Elaizabeth Kelly - Tangents

"I have always enjoyed changing scale; micro to macro cosmic observation has a way of changing perspective, and tailors to the aptness of purpose, and sets challenges in resolution of any work."

My work in glass over the last 20 years has focussed on industrial handling processes of pressing and centrifuging to design works repeated in production incorporating a specific (largely transparent) colour range. During the last decade I have focussed on the composition of elements to construct larger objects, moving from utilitarian objects to a sculptural emphasis that still incorporates industrial methods of production but strongly draws from theoretical research for inspiration.

In these intricate iterations of cast, assembled and cold finished works my point of departure is the examination of the origins of abiogenetic life and elemental organic geometry as inspiration. The theory of abiogenesis examines how the natural process of life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. Furthermore I am examining chirality or the asymmetry of chemical structures in the triggering of growth sequences, elemental in the understanding of what trips this potential 'life' switch. My work has a strong serendipitous affinity with marine invertebrates, realised through compositions of rhythmic sequences.

In further demonstration of Kelly's ability for productive tangential thought, her recent human-scale works such as Red Whorl are built on the spiralling accumulation of elements suggestive of abiogenetic life, a theory that examines how the natural process of life arises from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. In this body of work she brings into her design process the concept of chirality, or the asymmetry of chemical structures in the triggering of growth sequences. With the inevitability of natural law, her forms echo the 240million year-old marine invertebrate, the ammonites, of such geometric purity they have been nicknamed the 'Fibonacci fossils'.