Craft / “Quietly Spoken” and “On Reflection”, Canberra Glassworks, Kingston, until August 14. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

THROUGH the objects commonly found in garages and back sheds, glass artist Annette Blair shares her memories of generations of makers in her family and acknowledges the precious time she spent with them.

“On any given day” is a large installation work, placed on bare timber shelves mounted between the two poles in the centre of the gallery. The multiple pieces form one major work that have been grouped into smaller arrangements. Paint cans, jars of nails, paint brushes, oil cans and other relics – in sepia glass – from suburban life are included. They engender nostalgia, grouped and separately.

Blair is showing her experimental nature in the work titled “A quiet afternoon in May”. Two buckets are surrounded by fallen glass leaves. The surface of the vessels, which are filled with twigs, is matt and motley. Blair ground pieces of rusted metal and allowed the sparks to settle on the surface of the newly finished buckets. This process is potentially dangerous, in that the blown works could be seriously damaged by the hot sparks. The effect is surprising, with rusty patches appearing randomly. I saw this work after having walked past piles of leaves on my front lawn – reminding me of the never-ending task to be undertaken.

“Still life with poppies” is a vase of colourful flowers placed on a shelf draped in fabric. A few petals have dropped, leaving the naked centre. They are realistic and bring back memories of flowers from the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants in Harvard University, made by a father and son and a team of Czech glass artists over 50 years.

Kate Nixon, exhibiting “On Reflection”, and Blair collaborated on a work titled “The Passing Autumn”. Found objects: a dustpan with brush, covered in recycled mirrored mosaic, are surrounded by fallen autumn leaves.

In her solo work, installed in the Smoke Stack Space, Nixon celebrates trash. She has taken two wheelie bins, various crushed plastic bottles and cans, and a garbage bag, and covered them in tiny, recycled mirror and coloured glass mosaic. Every surface is covered.

Mosaic tiles have been found in ancient archaeological sites: the process has a long history. The mirror refers to the disco balls that used to – and sometimes still do – twirl high above dancers in various halls and dance spaces.

I was interested to learn that the history of the disco ball dates back to 1897, they were widely used in the 1920s and were mass-produced in the 1970s. In this latter version, they exemplified changing society – women’s liberation, black rights and sexual freedom.

I find something intriguing about a mirrored wheelie bin, and other throw-away detritus. I guess Nixon is laughing at us, and with us. But perhaps, after all, she is drawing our attention to the amount of garbage we all create.

The works in these exhibitions are layered with meanings, and audiences are invited to explore these meanings. Or one can just admire the talents of these two artists who work in glass.