Now Representing Australian Contemporary Glass Artist: Madisyn Zabel

OTOMYS: Has, and if so how has growing up in Australia, specifically Canberra, influenced your practice?

 

MADISYN ZABEL: I grew up in a small regional town a couple of hours from Canberra, which sparked a desire to explore beyond that limited bubble, to seek out art, architecture, and culture that differed from what I had been exposed to. I moved to Canberra to study at the Australian National University School of Art, where I discovered a vibrant and supportive glass community with a strong international reputation.

 

Rather than drawing inspiration from the Australian landscape in a traditional sense, my work is more influenced by urban environments, architecture, geometry, and the built world. I’m also deeply inspired by my peers, mentors, and Australian masters of the medium. Experiencing the remarkable work produced by these artists has instilled in me a strong commitment to creating refined, high-quality pieces that reflect both technical skill and conceptual depth.

OTOMYS: What inspired you to create sculptural glass works? How did you begin working with this medium?

 

MADISYN ZABEL: I began working with glass when I started my Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Australian National University School of Art, a year after finishing high school. As part of the application process, I was required to attend interviews and submit a portfolio to the Heads of the different workshops—Ceramics, Glass, Textiles, Printmedia, Painting, and so on. Coming from a regional school, I hadn’t been exposed to a wide range of art forms and didn’t have a particular medium in mind.

 

Encouraged by my high school art teacher and my father, I interviewed for both Glass and Printmedia and ultimately listed Glass as my first preference—despite having never worked with the medium or even seen a glass artwork in person. I was accepted into the Glass workshop and was quickly immersed in the material, its various techniques, and the rich history of glassmaking. I’ve always been drawn to geometry, architecture, and construction, so it felt natural to explore glass in a sculptural context.

 

During my studies, I became fascinated with visual perception and illusion—particularly the Necker Cube, a two-dimensional line drawing of a cube that reverses orientation depending on how it is viewed. Designed by Swiss crystallographer Louis Albert Necker in 1832, it exemplifies perceptual reversal and became a touchstone for my early thinking.

 

Glass, as a tactile and spatial medium, allowed me to experiment with replicating platonic solids and other geometric forms. I remember, during a critique, a professor challenged me with the question: “Why don’t you make your own forms?” Since then, my practice has focused on creating uniquesculptural forms that generate optical illusions—works that explore both internal and external dimensions. Each piece occupies a liminal space, blurring boundaries and inviting contemplation. They rely on the viewer’s perception and shift depending on a range of conditions: natural or artificial light, the angle of view, and the spatial context. The experience of the work is never static—it is dynamic and responsive, constantly reshaped by its environment and audience.

OTOMYS: How does your practice reflect the intersection between art and science?

 

MADISYN ZABEL: Glass is, by nature, a highly scientific material. Its production and manipulation rely on an understanding of its material properties—the specific temperatures it requires, the rate at which it can be heated and cooled without introducing stress or causing cracks. It’s an amorphous solid, and working with it demands a careful balance between precision and experimentation.

 

I wouldn’t have initially considered my practice to sit at the intersection of art and science, but the more I reflect on it, the more I realise how inseparable the two are—especially in glassmaking. My process involves a lot of trial and error: testing different techniques, pushing materials, and making mistakes along the way. Some of these have been heartbreaking—especially when a piece fails late in the process and ends up breaking. There have definitely been tears over the years.

 

Lately, my practice has centred on gluing and lamination, which has involved extensive experimentation with pigments—adjusting colour, density, and heating temperatures. I’ve also been combining various types of glass, including solid, sheet, and ribbed or rippled glass, to achieve optical effects. These combinations produce shifting illusions and subtle variations in colour, allowing the work to respond to light and perspective in dynamic and often unexpected ways.