| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | A veteran artist of the Alberta hot glass scene, Mark Gibeau, is best known for boldly coloured, large, free-form vessels like his Face Series bowls which contain abstracted faces in the glass. He also uses hot glass as a sculptural material to create figurative, abstract and representational forms. Of particular interest is the prehistoric imagery and symbolism of the Americas, incorporated into glass works like the Origin series where organic shapes are used to evoke the petroglyphic art of sites like Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, AB. A technical expert, Gibeau also employs a unique process of dropping hot glass into sand moulds which create objects clear and fragile but also heavy and solid at the same time.
The artist received his first training in glass blowing at Red Deer College’s summer program, Series (1985 & 1986). Around the same time, he also majored in Glass at the Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD) (1985-1987). Subsequently, Gibeau himself has instructed in glass blowing and other techniques at ACAD, Red Deer College and Pilchuk Glass Studio (Stanwood, WA).
A maker of both functional and non-functional glass, the artist has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions, including presentations at: the prestigious Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery (Waterloo, ON), The International Exhibition of Glass (Kanazawa, Japan), The International Glass Symposium (Novy Bor, Czech Republic), Galerie Im Gabla (Tennenlohe, Germany), the Muttart Public Art Gallery and the Triangle Gallery (Calgary, AB). |