Terrazzo Encalmo Bowl by Peter Bowles created with blown glass and polished concrete. Photographed from the side showing the profile of the bowl and its indented centre.  The red outside contains a grey concrete centre and black-lipped cream inside.

Terrazzo Encalmo Bowl


Blown glass, polished concrete and fine silver.


Developed in 2000 as an adjunct research fellow at Curtin University, and subsequently revisited in 2006 as part of Peters ongoing studio practice.


Two individually blown glass forms define the internal and external surfaces of a cast concrete bowl. Two thin bands of fine silver define the edges of the polished concrete.


Research has its costs, and regrettably, these works demonstrate that perfectly. Due to the stresses that concrete imposes as is shrinks over time, the stresses exerted on the glass were just too great to withstand, and eventually, sometimes months after their completion, these pieces would just crack.


Of the six of these pieces ever made, only one survives intact - now part of Glass Manifestos private collection. They are included here purely as an academic record.


"The work evolved from a long term interest in using concrete as a creative material. Specifically polished concretes and terrazzo. There is just something so beautiful about both concrete, and the idea of concrete - its substance and its mass."


"There is a humility and humbleness in this work. Maybe more so knowing that they are literally pulling themselves apart, though I'll admit to not seeing the poetry of it all at the moment of first seeing them cracked .’’

PB

Detailed close-up photograph of the Terrazzo Encalmo Bowl by Peter Bowles created with blown glass and polished concrete. The red outside contains a grey concrete centre and black-lipped cream inside.
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