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Matt Burgess (Aust, 1985) completed a degree of Visual Arts (Specialisation) at the University of South Australia. He majored in glass and minored in jewellery. His glass work explores the human form, looking at the human condition. He casts his glass using the lost wax technique. Apart from glass Matt also creates kooky vintage jewellery with a friend, they work under the alias Play With Me. Matt has just returned from the UK where he completed a mentorship with David Reekie.

Experience / Professional Development

2008 Assisting Janet Laurence, Adelaide Biennial, Fringe Festival, Art Gallery of South Australia,
Handle with Care.
2007/08 Optus Mentorship Scheme (Helpmann Academy) with David Reekie (UK)
2007 University Of South Australia, Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours).  Internship with Craftsouth,
developing Wish List, Craftsouth members’ exhibition.
2004 – 2006 University of South Australia, Bachelor of Visual Arts (Specialisation).

Exhibitions

2008 SALA 08, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide
2008 Dividing Lines, Urban Cow, Adelaide
2008 Quartet, Adele Boag, Adelaide
2008 Open Slather, Ausglass Conference member’s show, ANU student gallery, Canberra
2007 Nexus Window space, Adelaide
2007 Small Colossus, Chesser St Gallery, Adelaide
2007 Puncture, Kaurna Gallery, Third year and Honours graduate exhibition
2007 Refill, Aroma Café City West, Adelaide
2007 Impending Doom for the HMS Black Sun, Fringe Festival, Spank Studio, Adelaide
2006 Prelude (SASA graduate exhibition) Kaurna Building University of South Australia
2006 Sculpture and Form, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide
2006 DB 509, SALA Festival Adelaide Arcade, Adelaide
2006 Mega Mix 06, Mint Vintage, Adelaide
2006 A4 Play exhibition, Adelaide
2005 Cast, Kaurna Gallery, Adelaide

Publications/Print

2006 Advertiser, Arts section, Tuesday, November 28, 2006 article by Samela Harris.
2006 Entropy, University of South Australia student magazine, October edition
2006 Adelaide Matters, November (issue # 79), article by Catherine Bauer

Achievements

2007 Nominated for Design Now, Object Gallery.
2006 Nominated for the ADAFS prize, University of South Australia.
2006 Selected for Helpmann Auction, Maestros and Apprentices Auction.
2005 Dean’s Merit List, University of South Australia.
2004 Dean’s Merit List, University of South Australia.

Grants

2007 Helpmann Grant for 2008 Dividing Lines group show at Urban Cow gallery, Adelaide

Memberships

Ausglass
Craftsouth

Lost Wax Technique For Glass Casting

I melt a hard wax in a bain-marie and add thirteen percent paraffin oil. This helps to make the wax more malleable. After the wax has melted and the paraffin oil is mixed in, I pour the wax into a baking pan and let it set for a couple of hours.

Moulding the wax is one of the most time consuming aspects of this technique, well it’s the most labour intensive on my behalf. It takes me approximately five – twenty hours to mould one figure. The scale of the figure does not determine the time taken; it is the way the figure is positioned.

After the figure is created I attach a reservoir, which is a cone shaped like addition to the figure. This is for the glass to pour into once it is set in the mould; I need to attach this to the figure now, as it is made out of wax too. I usually attach it to the bottom of the figure as this is the best angle for the glass to pour into. Once the figure is created, I clean it up with a lite flame to smoothen the surface of the wax. This eradicates my fingerprints and other surface marks.

This is the stage where I attach sprews to the figure to make a plaster / silica mould. The sprews are thin, approximately three millimetres wide. I roll wax to make these. Sprews are attached to the figure and reach the outside of the paster / silica mould. They are for oxygen to pull the glass in hard to reach areas in the mould.

Before I can make the paster / silica mould I need to build a wall, for the paster /silica mix. The walls are made of wood, and are held together with clamps. They are built around the figure. I fill in any gaps with clay so that the plaster / silica does not leak while it sets.

Okay, now is time to make the plaster silica mould!! I fill half a bucket with water and add one handful of paster and one handful of silica. I add a handful of each until it reaches a consistency I am happy with. I pour the mixture into the container I made with the wall. I generally leave the plaster / silica for half an hour just to let it set, and then remove the walls and clay. The end result of this is a rectangular white solid box with a wax figure inside.

I place the plaster / silica mould in a drying cabinet over night to get out the moister out.

After leaving the mould in the drying cabinet I melt out the wax figure, using the steamer. This usually takes about 20 minutes.

The mould is now ready for the kiln. I place the mould in the kiln, and put a flowerpot with a lead crystal glass in it ready for the glass to pour in. The reservoir I attached to the mould goes all the way to the outside of the plaster / silica mould. I place the mould with the reservoir facing up. The flowerpot hole is in line with this hole so the glass can pour in at a steady rate. The reservoir is about five centimetres wide.

I leave the mould in the kiln for up to four days. It takes this long as the glass needs to go up in temperature at a certain rate and cool down at a certain rate. If the temperature drops at a rapid rate the glass will stress and crack. If not straight away, later on.

When I pull the mould out of the kiln, I leave it for a day before I crack the mould open. This is because there is still heat within the mould and glass. Not much, but it is enough to crack the piece.

After the figure is out of the mould, I clean all the remaining bits of plaster / silica off the glass. I can now cold work; I cut the reservoir off to begin with. I use a variety of cold working equipment to clean the figure and to achieve a finish I would like to achieve. This can take quite some time.