Elizabeth Mavrick

Elizabeth was born in Western Australia and moved to Sydney in 1979 to study Visual Arts at the Sydney College of the Arts, graduating in 1982 before beginning her career as a fulltime artist at her new glass and pottery studio in Midland, WA in 1983.

It was only in 1990, when she returned to her childhood home of Fremantle that Elizabeth turned her full focus to glass. Since then she has been creating and developing her own designs in her chosen medium of art glass. Much of her signature kiln-formed work has been inspired by visits to the Pilbara and Kimberly regions of WA where the vastness, openness and diversity of the country and its people have had an incredible impact on how she approaches her work.

The solitude and space inspired Elizabeth to change the size and colours of her pieces: reds, oranges and blues have become key elements in her glass. She is fascinated by the calmness and power of these colours which represent the uniqueness and beauty of Australia.

Predominately using Bullseye Glass from Portland in Oregon, USA, Elizabeth overlays various glass powders and other glasses that have similar coefficients of expansion. These are then fused in one of her three kilns, her largest kiln having the bed space of 2.2m x 1.2m which allows Elizabeth to create very large pieces of work.

Generally, the schedules for the firings vary greatly and depend on the thickness and colour variation of the piece. An average firing takes approximately three days, but thicker pieces can take weeks as the glass needs to anneal (a cooling process which reduces stress in the glass).

Elizabeth's work has been shown in mixed exhibitions across Australia and in three solo exhibitions in Western Australia.  She has been commissioned by major corporations and organizations such as BHP; Chamber Five; the Chinese Embassy in East Perth; CSIRO; the Perth Mint and the Premier's Department.  Elizabeth has also been commissioned for major architectural projects for buildings such as the Water Wall at the Wills Building, Kings Street, Perth, the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and the Langley Hotel in Perth.

Her highly sought after pieces have been acquired in many private collections both in Australia and overseas and are available in a number of galleries throughout Australia.

Made in Western Australia.