here is a selection of work from 2005 to the present…i am adding to this page and i am also trying to learn how to use these tools. i’ll do my best to slowly fill in the gaps. thanks.
trish roan
.
Meridian (installation at The Tree Museum, Ontario, Canada)
2010
mirrors, wood, metal, sunlight
dimensions variable
Several mirrors mounted onto the trees reflect sunlight onto the rock face ahead. At a particular point in the day the pieces of reflected light all intersect within the sheltered space of rock between two young oak trees, forming a full circle.
The image occurs each day at solar noon, the moment at which the sun is directly over the local meridian – in other words, the moment when the place on which we stand turns to face the sun. In this way it acts as a sundial, or perhaps more accurately a noon-mark. I think of this point in time as a threshold, a transition moment between approaching and turning away. The marker of the noon is the wholeness of the circle, which breaks up as the sun moves on.
This piece was part of a residency and exhibition with Bev Hogg, Penelope Stewart and Jeannie Thib, at The Tree Museum in Ontario, Canada. You can see everyone’s work here.
.
.
untitled (detail of installation in Kingston powerhouse, Canberra)
2010
blown glass, water, mirrors, steel
dimensions variable
An image from a project in which I tried to pierce more windows into the thick concrete walls of a former power station. Spherical glass vessels filled with water were suspended from metal structures (the old coal hoppers) overhead, and acted as lenses that projected images of the existing windows onto the walls.
.
.
Falling
2010
blown glass, water, glass beads, rayon thread, superglue
40cm x 19cm x 19cm
Photo: Rob Little.
The image is made from a series of beads suspended in space. Like constellations, the pattern they make is entirely dependent on the perspective of the viewer, and is only seen from one angle. As the viewer moves around the piece, the image emerges for a second before dispersing into scattered drops. Each bead of the image is suspended from another dot drawing drilled into the top of the glass dome (see detail).
.
.
Falling (detail)
.
.
Wayfinding
2010
scientific glass, water, glass beads, rayon thread, superglue
34cm x 17cm x 17cm
Photo: Rob Little
A drawing of a boat is suspended from a map of the night sky during October. The piece is about an internal ocean, and it is about navigating without landmarks.
.
.
Wayfinding (detail)
.
.
Star map
2009
crackers, sunlight
.
.
One drop at a time (all I got)
2008
glass, water, graphite, balloon, pigment
29cm x 10cm x 10cm
Photo: Stuart Hay
The lightbulb object on the bottle is an inverted open vessel containing water, which drips very slowly into the balloon. The filament is engraved on the back of the lightbulb, and the water acts as a magnifier in order to read the words that it forms. The piece is about volumes, and capacities – the potential for things to expand or contract, and the conditions that allow for this.
.
.
One drop at a time (detail)
.
.
What you sow
2008
broken light bulb, thread
9cm x 5cm x 5cm
.
.
Instrument
2008
modified scientific glass, rubber
33cm x 5cm x 5cm
.
.
Horn
2008
blown glass, found object, feathers
27cm x 8cm x 8cm
Photo: Stuart Hay
.
.
Constellation
2007
found pens, paper, blown glass
18cm x 86cm x 43cm
Photo: Stuart Hay
This is a collection of pens which were about to be thrown out, no longer able to write properly. They were stood up in bottles containing a circle of blotting paper, allowing what each pen contained to bleed out and reveal its internal volume. The different sized ink blots correspond to the magnitude of stars within the constellation of Scorpio.
.
.
Constellation II (the space we fill)
2007
ink on paper
43cm x 84cm
The second part of the Constellation piece – a different method of measuring internal volume within a pen. This is the outward projection of that volume. The two pieces are about capacity within people, the kind of light that they bring to the world and to each other. The darker areas where the lines intersect more make the stars appear brighter.
.
.
Exchange
2007
blown glass, water, dry watercolour pigment, cotton
12cm x 22cm x 7cm
Through capillary action, water travels one drop at a time up a thread of cotton from one jug to the other, falling onto a dry block of pigment and reconstituting it into paint. Once this fills up to a certain level, it moves back the other way, colouring the water in the first jug. They make each other possible.
.
.
Moving through water
2006
blown, cast and lampworked glass, water, dirt, thread
24cm x 14cm x 14cm
.
.
A collection
2006
soap, erasers, wood
24cm x 24cm x 4cm each
.
.
Pearl
2006
cast glass, found object
dimensions variable
(approx 4cm x 7cm x 23cm)
Photo: Stuart Hay
A found object was dipped in layers of wax until it formed a uniform ellipse. The layers were cast individually in glass, using the lost-wax technique. I was thinking about passages of time, the rounded edges of memory, and how pearls are made.
.
.
Pearl (detail)
.
.
The eye of a fish; the volume of a room
2006
blown glass, water, alcohol, oil
14cm x 12cm x 12cm
A drop of oil is suspended in a vessel containing a solution of water and alcohol. The water and alcohol has been mixed to be the same density as that of the oil, allowing the oil to form a perfect sphere. The piece is a series of lenses nested within each other – glass, water and oil. The drop of oil reflects the surrounding room and objects within it. I am interested in the idea of the smallest thing containing something much larger than itself.
.
.
The eye of a fish; the volume of a room (detail)
.
.
Compass
2006
various containers, water, magnetised needles
.
.
2 things
2005
seed pod, found comb
.
.
