Jessica Loughlin

Jessica Loughlin (born 1975) is an Australian glass artist based in Adelaide, South Australia. Her kiln-formed glasswork is included in collections in Australia and worldwide.

Early life and education

Jessica Loughlin was born in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1975.{{cite web | title=Jessica Loughlin | website=National Gallery of Australia | url=https://searchthecollection.nga.gov.au/object/142969 | access-date=2024-10-07}}{{Cite web|title=Continuum and wonder of creation |website= ACU Arts and Culture Hub| date=19 December 2018 |url=https://artsandculture.acu.edu.au/news/continuum-and-wonder-of-creation|access-date=2020-09-18|publisher= Australian Catholic University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227020136/https://artsandculture.acu.edu.au/news/continuum-and-wonder-of-creation| archive-date= 27 Feb 2020}}

She completed a Bachelor of Arts with honours at Canberra School of Art at the Australian National University in 1997,{{cite web | title= Jessica Loughlin [CV]| url=https://sabbiagallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Sabbia-Gallery-Jessica-Loughlin-CV-2023.pdf |publisher=Sabbia Gallery| access-date=2024-10-07}} where she studied under Stephen Procter.

Career and art practice

Loughlin started her studio practice in 1998, and was soon well known in the new generation of glass artists of the 2000s. She began by exploring the horizon line in her student years, subsequently becoming interested in "capturing the transient qualities of light and the quiet sense of contemplation it provokes in the viewer".{{cite web | title=Jessica Loughlin: from here|first1= Julie |last1= Ewington |first2=Tina |last2= Oldknow | website=Wakefield Press | date=2024 | url=https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product/jessica-loughlin/ | access-date=2024-10-07}}

She is based in Adelaide, South Australia, and her work is said to be "influenced by the flat landscapes and salt lakes" of parts of the state.Working in kiln-formed glass, she uses a restricted colour palette.

In her own words:{{blockquote|My work investigates space, seeing distance and understanding how wide-open spaces, particularly of the Australian landscape, affect us. I am fascinated by the unreachable space. The view we look upon, but can never reach. In this minimal landscape, all elements are stripped back, light becomes the landscape, and I am left looking at space, the space between here.…and there... My work does not aim to represent this landscape directly but rather induce a state of looking inward and outward simultaneously.}}

Recognition and awards

1997: Winner, RFC Award (later renamed Ranamok Glass Prize), Resource Finance Corporation, Australia
2001: "Outstanding New Artist in Glass" in Urban Glass Award, New York City
2004: Winner, Tom Malone Prize, Art Gallery of Western Australia
2007: Winner, Tom Malone Prize, Art Gallery of Western Australia
2018: Winner, FUSE Glass Prize, JamFactory, Adelaide{{cite web |title=FUSE Glass Prize 2018 |website=FUSE |date=24 September 2021 |url=https://www.fuseglassprize.com/previousyears/fuse-glass-prize-2016-ahjs8 |access-date=9 October 2024}}
2020: Finalist, Loewe Craft Prize, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
2022: Selected to be the focus of the solo exhibition in the JamFactory's Icon series of exhibitions

Exhibitions

Loughlin's work has been exhibited many times, both nationally and internationally.

=Group=

1999: Australian Studio Glass, Galeria Nova Imagem, Lisbon; Glass Museum of Marinha Grande, Portugal
2000: 28th International Glass Invitational, Habatat Galleries, Pontiac, Michigan, US
2006: Open Space 16 (2005) was included Transformations : The language of craft, at the National Gallery of Australia{{cite web | last=McDonald | first=John | title=Material possessions | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=2006-01-21 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/material-possessions-20060121-gdmt7x.html | access-date=2024-10-07}}{{cite journal | title=Transformations : The language of craft| journal= Art on View |issue=44 | date=Summer 2005 | publisher= National Gallery of Australia| via=Issuu | url=https://issuu.com/nationalgalleryofaustralia/docs/artonview_44 | access-date=2024-10-07}}{{Cite web|title=Transformations : The language of craft |url=https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/transformations/?MnuID=1&SubMnuID=1&BioArtistIRN=5053&IRN=142969#essay|access-date=2020-09-18|website=nga.gov.au}}
2024: Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide{{cite web |title=Jessica Loughlin |website=Talking Out Your Glass |date=1 March 2024 |url=https://talkingoutyourglass.com/jessica-loughlin/ |access-date=7 October 2024}}

=Solo=

(selected)

2000: Bullseye Connections Gallery, SOFA, International Art Expo, New York City
2003: Heller Gallery, New York City, US
2004: Sanske Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
2009: Expanse, Bullseye Connections Gallery, Oregon, US
2021: Architetture di Luce, Caterina Tognon, Venice, Italy
2022: Jessica Loughlin: Of Light, JamFactory Icon series,{{cite web |title=JamFactory Icon |website=JamFactory |date=26 July 2024 |url=https://www.jamfactory.com.au/lifetime-honourees-copy |access-date=6 October 2024}} then touring nationally until 2025
2023: near | far, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney

Collections

Loughlin's work is represented in many galleries, including:

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA
Australian Catholic University
Corning Museum of Glass, NY USA
Glasmuseum, Ebeltoft, Denmark
Glass Museum of Marinha Grande, Portugal
Hamilton Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama, US
Musée de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains, Lausanne, Switzerland
National Gallery of Australia
National Glass Collection, Wagga Wagga, Australia
National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh
New Mexico Museum of Art, USA
Queensland Art Gallery
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK