Maddy is an absolute killer artist. I have been lucky enough for her to even work for me on occasion! What a piece of luck! MAddy is kind of the gun for hire at the jam so to speak. She assists some big names like Nick Mount, Clare Belfrage and now adds international superstars to her resume like Nancy Callan, woah! (You can see how I can't believe how she still works for me) Alongside her impressive assisting career, Maddy also techs at the JAm AND still manages to make her own work. Her work is gorgeous. She uses beautiful, subdued tones to create well considered forms.
Gals of Glazz
Tune in for 10
1.
Who are you and
what do you do?
I’m Madeline Prowd, glass artist and designer working
out of JamFactory in Adelaide. I’m lucky to be in the hot shop most days of the
week assisting many of the amazing artists who use the studio and make our
community so sweet. I am also the assistant tech in our studio, so I get to
build equipment and keep the place running smoothly, which is both super
challenging and totally rewarding.
2.
What do you make?
I mostly make functional production work, utilising
different patterning techniques and colour applications to pay homage to the origins of the material while bringing a modern
aesthetic.
3.
Why do you make?
Because I enjoy it! I’m in a
position where I get to go to work everyday and whether it’s making for myself
or assisting others, I get to create things with a pretty crazy medium,
surrounded by a community of amazing people. It’s hot, sweaty and dirty, but we
create beautiful things that (hopefully) serve a purpose.
4.
What’s you colour
palette?
White, grey and blue…and
occasionally I branch out with something crazy like gold. I’m trying hard to
use more colour, but I really am a fan of muted tones and those dirty, off
blues and greens.
5.
What’s your
proudest achievement?
That’s a tough one…
I think I’m pretty proud of
where glass has taken me – I’ve had the opportunity to go to the States a bunch
of times and TA for amazing artists that I have looked up to since I started at
uni. Last year I got to go to Berlin for two months and do a residency, and
then headed up to Ebeltoft where I met and worked for Tobias Mohl for few days,
which led to TA’ing for him when he came to Adelaide this year for the Ausglass
conference. Definitely didn’t expect to be travelling the world and blowing
glass in my 20’s, it’s pretty sweet.
6.
Hot or Cold?
Hot for sure!
7.
What’s your dream
project?
To keep making for myself and
for others, and to continue to be able to support myself from making glass.
I’d like to teach as well - I
wouldn’t be where I am without the generosity of others, I really believe in
the value of shared knowledge, so getting to a point where I can pass on what I
have learned would be awesome.
8.
What’s your
influences?
The people and places around me. The material
itself drives a lot of the work I create – focusing on a specific technique,
colour application or the objects proposed function.
9.
What’s coming up
for you? Or what are you looking forward to?
No big trips planned for
2016…had a few good ones the past few years. So I’ll be in Adelaide, knuckling
down and getting shit done. At the moment though, I’m looking forward to a
little break over xmas/new years before rebuilding one of our furnaces in Jan.
10.
If you could only
eat 3 foods for the rest of your life what would they be?
Sushi
Bread
Lamb
You can also check out more of Maddy here
Thank you MAddy! And thank you for reading. Gals of Glazz will be back next year with a fresh crop of talented ladies for you to meet. You may be thinking, really? there's more? Of course theres fucking more! We glass ladies, we everywhere!
