Craft / “What Gave You That Idea”, Zoe Brand. At Canberra Glassworks, until October 8. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

SURELY we are all aware that the Canberra Glassworks is one of the best things to have been established in Canberra’s cultural life for many years.

One of its many programs is for professional artists – not necessarily artists who work in glass – to attend workshops that will increase their range of skills.

Zoe Brand works in the worlds of conceptual art and contemporary jewellery, both of which she is exhibiting in this show.

Brand participated in a gilding masterclass at Canberra Glassworks with Will Lynes, of Lynes and Co, of Sydney. In typical Brand style, she took to it as though she had been gilding forever, and produced the exhibition “What Gave You That Idea”.

Generally, Brand works in acrylic or plexiglass.  For this exhibition, she created 350 gilded, hand-cast glass tokens. This might be a nod to mass production, as Brand is also concerned about rampant consumerism. With this in mind, she has made the glass tokens from raw glass material with what the artists at the Glassworks call the “bad batch”, a regular by-product of a glass hot shop.

They are also a reminder that the journey is as important as the destination – keep trying.

This exhibition also features other forms of reclaimed glass: an outdoor table top, glass chopping boards, and tabletops from a computer table. The words – in gold backing paint – will tease you and give pause to contemplate.

Three works hang in the Link Gallery, between the main gallery and the smokestack gallery. They are hung out from the wall, and the backs are reflected in coloured mirror. This is important, as the phrases on both sides respond to each other.

Despite the seeming whimsicality of Brand’s work, underlying the work there is a deadly seriousness, and Brand considers each piece carefully and deeply. The pieces could be viewed as banal, frivolous, ambiguous, or just plain fun – no two viewers will read them the same way.

Brand does not generally use precious metals such as gold in her jewellery – but she loved using the gilding technique, so perhaps we will see more.

This exhibition shows how important it is for artists to have the support of a place such as the Canberra Glassworks.