Oliver & Hawes 

A collaboration with Jacky Oliver and Graeme Hawes

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Both graduates of the RCA, Oliver and Hawes began their collaborations in 2016 initially exploring relationships between their distinct practices.

They have been producing work individually for exhibitions and commissions for over two decades and in this body of new works their different materials and practices converge to contrast and amplify the craftsmanship of the two artists.

Conversational process and response defines this work, honed to perfection. A gesture from Oliver, turned in metal, encounters Hawes response. The heat of the encounter cools quickly to bend and chill mark the glass as it adjusts itself and settles into place. A harmony and balance is immediately established between strength and fragility, visual poetics arising from the movement from one surface to another, one discipline to another.

The elements in these pieces develop from practiced blacksmithing and glassblowing techniques; twisting with a fluidity that reminds us of the working of the molten forms they draw through the space and encounter each other. Oliver’s attention to detail, regardless of scale, speaks to previous training as a jeweller.  Hawes’ blown glass, beautifully cool settles in the hold of Oliver’s pieces, an equilibrium establishing as they define and refine themselves.

The finished pieces have a rhythm and structure to them akin to a perfectly formed phrase or sentence.

The work here is drawn from a variety of sources, inspired by Oliver’s residency at the Botanic Gardens in Leicester or from Pilate’s techniques.

Once her metal drawings are complete she passes them onto Hawes who offers a fluid mirrored response. Instinctive and intuitive his glass refines and progresses the pieces into the complex and reflective nature of curiosity.

This is not by nature the finale or point of arrival of this work; it is the exploration of the journey.