Between Earth and Sky // Artist biographies

Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello // Biography

Jenni Kemarre Martiniello in an Award winning visual artist, poet, writer, and photographer of Arrernte, Chinese and Anglo-Celtic descent.

As a contemporary urban based Aboriginal (Arrernte) glass artist, Jenni Kemarre Martiniello aims to produce a body of traditionally inspired works that will pay tribute to traditional weavers, and provide recognition for ancient cultural practices through the contemporary medium of glass within the aesthetics of both.

In her current artistic practice Jenni concentrates on the incredibly beautiful forms of traditional woven eel traps, fish traps, fish scoops, dillibags and coiled and open weave baskets by Kaurna, Ngarrinjerri, Gunditjmara, Arrernte and NE Arnhemland weavers., seeking to evoke the interplay of light and form found in those objects, and in so doing, create contemporary glass works which are also objects of  cultural as well as artistic significance.

Jenni’s glass works have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra Glassworks and Sabbia Gallery in Sydney. She was awarded Canberra Critics Circle Awards for Visual Arts in 2011 and 2013. Jenni is an ACT Creative Arts Fellow (2003) and is the recipient of a 2-year Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts Fellowship from the Australia Council for the Arts for 2013/2014. In 2013 she won the prestigious Telstra Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art. Her works are held in numerous public and private collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Art Gallery of Western Australia, the ACT Legislative Assembly, Tasmanian Art Gallery and Museum, Northern Territory Art Gallery and Museum, Australian Parliament House Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia, QAGOMA, National Museum of Palau, National Art Gallery of the Solomon Islands, the Corning Museum of Glass, USA and the British Museum UK. Jenni works from her studio at Canberra Glassworks.

Sharon Peoples // Biography

 Sharon Peoples has exhibited nationally and internationally over her career. In 1994, she completed a Masters (Visual Arts) in the textiles workshop at the Australian National University’s School of Art. In 2004, she embarked on a PhD in fashion theory in the former Art History Department of the ANU. She returned to making in 2010 after completing her doctorate. Since that time, she has been developing techniques in machine embroidery on soluble fabric which has resulted in lace patterning.

Experimentation and research with various threads, particularly metal threads led to creating large three-dimensional forms. In 2011 this was rewarded with the inclusion of her work in the international Love Lace exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. She has further developed these techniques culminating in a substantial body of work, which has been exhibited in a solo exhibition, Habitus. She continues to experiment with lace structures.

Peoples combines an academic career as the Convenor of the Museums and Collections Program within the Centre for Heritage and Museums, at ANU with her visual arts practice. She writes on fashion theory and the crafts. Her work is represented in public and private collections as well as public commissions.