Soon the revitalised building will feature a stunning re-creation of the old smokestack, turning it into a tower of glass and light. This project will be made possible thanks to the generosity of ActewAGL, a major sponsor of the project. Visitors who don’t pre-book classes will not miss out. The innovative ‘Off the Street’ program will provide them with opportunities to walk straight in and make under the guidance of a highly skilled glass-maker. Workshop participants will be able to feel the heat of the furnace and experience the movement of molten glass in the ‘Hot Shop’, enjoy designing and assembling glass elements from a range of coloured sheet glass in the kiln forming area, or simply create their own wearable art through flameworking a glass bead with a hot torch. World-class glass art The Canberra Glassworks will be home to two unique and exciting gallery spaces. ‘Gallery One’ will host major survey and cutting-edge contemporary exhibitions, including in August 2007, the prestigious touring exhibition Ranamok Glassprize, which showcases the very best of Australian and New Zealand contemporary studio glass art. When not supporting larger exhibitions like Ranamok, ‘Gallery Two’ which is located in the base of the former Powerhouse smokestack, will host contemporary project exhibitions and installations. Canberra’s international reputation as a centre for contemporary studio glass will be a focus of the Canberra Glassworks’ inaugural exhibition, Heartland: Imagination Creation Inspiration, curated by Barbara McConchie, Executive Director of Craft ACT. A survey of 21 years of the Australian National University’s, School of Art Glass Workshop, the exhibition “will celebrate the artistic vision and strength that has defined this region, which is now recognised globally in the field of studio glass,” Ms McConchie said. Artists at work Canberra Glassworks will provide artists with access to equipment, studios and storage facilities and unprecedented opportunities to expand their skills and explore new directions in their practice. Four studios within the Canberra Glassworks will support an artist-in-residence program and be available for periodic rental. A monthly lecture series by local and international glass artists will be held at the Canberra Glassworks. The program aims to broaden awareness of glass art and will create opportunities for knowledge exchange around glass making in all its forms. The Kingston Powerhouse and the Kingston Foreshore Originally intended to be a temporary structure, the Kingston Powerhouse supplied Canberra with coal-generated electricity from 1915, continuing to operate as a powerhouse until 1957. The Powerhouse is the oldest public building in the ACT. With construction beginning in 1913, it was designed by J S Murdoch, the architect of other important heritage buildings in Canberra such as Old Parliament House, East and West Blocks and the Hotel Canberra. The Powerhouse and surrounding precinct is included on the ACT Heritage Places Register and the Register of the National Estate. The prestigious Kingston Foreshore continues to develop into an extensive waterfront housing and retail estate which is being established by the ACT Government’s Land Development Agency. The multi-award-winning Bus Depot Markets are near neighbours to the Canberra Glassworks.
