Thomas Pearson
Maker Member
Glass
Thomas Pearson is a Canberra-based artist working across craft and design, in both hand-blown glass and painted portraiture. Alongside a studio at the Canberra Glassworks, Thomas maintains a creative arts and design practice at Strathnairn Arts, creating portraits that document personal and family relationships, and working to synthesise a studio glass-craft and portraiture approach. Thomas’ training combines rigorous craftsmanship with a conceptual foundation built through his time at ANU and subsequently as an Associate Glassblower at JamFactory in South Australia. His practice has been recognised internationally, with glassblowing residencies in Italy and Belgium. Thomas is also committed to sharing his techniques in glass, having taught workshops and classes nationally and internationally. Thomas’ exhibited works include solo exhibition's (Orange Regional Art Gallery, 2018) and group shows at JamFactory and Floating Goose Studios. He has consistently been a finalist in significant glass and sculpture prizes, including the Venice Glass Biennale (2019), the National Emerging Art Glass Prize (2018), and the Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award (2025). His work is held in the Australian National Glass Art Collection, Het Glazenhuis (Belgium), and private collections.
"I’m thinking as I am making, figuring things out as I go. So, my only constant is a tediously changing perspective. Having said that, my current practice explores the subjective dimensions of human experience, particularly interpersonal recognition. In my work these individual level experiences are combined with more universal symbolic narratives, specifically where multiplicity collapses bi-directionally into unity. I need to constantly draw on scientific and ontological literature from my field of study in clinical and social psychology, while also engaging in a dialectic with the personal and immediate. Specifically, reflecting on my own lived experiences and relationships.
These often incompatible concerns converge in my ongoing series of hourglass forms, titled Hydrosammia and Clepsammia. Working with both glass and water, I reconsider the physical characteristics of the hourglass as a flexible and functional symbol. As both a highly credible design object, and a personal conceptual exploration. These works investigate how dual forms can exist within a unified function, embodying tension between individuality and broader shared identity. These forms represent a line of inquiry that began during my time at JamFactory and continues to inform my current work toward exhibitions in Canberra. These hourglasses are dynamic and generally highly functional, combining traditional Venetian glassblowing techniques with innovative figurative and hot-sculpting processes. The making of an hourglass is hot, intensely physical, a vigorous glorious calamity. The fallout of this creative storm is cold, quiet and contemplative."
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Online Resources:
Website: https://www.thomaspearsonglass.com/
Instagram: @thomaspearsonart
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