Craft / Materiality – but not as we know it. At Canberra Museum and Gallery, until October 20. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

This is a major exhibition for the Canberra Museum and Gallery.

Nine bodies of work are being exhibited which include a variety of materials – wood, glass, copper, glass. The title suggests that the materials are reasonably commonplace – and they are. But the ways in which they are being used is uncommon.

Mel Douglas is showing eight bowls which rest on the curves of their bases. She has engraved – or drawn – lines on the outer surfaces which are reflected on the exterior surface of the white plinths on which they are standing. The simplicity of the forms and the surface treatment create complex surface decorations, in part depending on the light, and in part where they are viewed from.

Harriet Schwarzrock continues to investigate the behaviour of plasma in “a blown-glass envelope”. In a darkened space in the gallery, she is showing rounded forms with closed ends and hollow, twisted tubes. The plasma lights up, as the viewer approaches the larger forms, animating and exciting them. The works pulse with colour in the dim space drawing our eyes all over the room.

A third artist working in glass is Paul Girrawah House. He is showing Bargan-Bargan and Balganbaa Boomerangs in cast crystal – brightly coloured forms represent boomerangs the colours depicting Ngambri-Kamberri ngurambang (Country) and Bgambri-Kamberri ngurambang-wir (Sky Country). He is also showing glass gulamons (coolamons), used by women to nurture and sustain the wellbeing of the family group. Working with artists at the Canberra Glassworks, he honours generations of balangaan (matriarchs) through the luminous colours and the placement of the works.

Ashley Eriksmoen collects and reconfigures timber furniture. She can be seen driving the streets of Canberra, collecting discarded chairs, tables, stools, and other timber objects.

After deconstructing these items, she reconstructs them. In this exhibition the pieces are “heaped” – not an elegant word to describe their careful placement – in the corners, spilling out over the floor. This work is a confronting reminder of what Eriksmoen identifies as the “embedded narrative of this linear resource-product-waste lifespan”. I find these deconstructed items – wherever they are, truly depressing.

Eliott Bastianon is exhibiting work from patinated copper pipes, on which by processes of electroplating, he has created large bright blue crystals which are organised in a pattern. In other examples, the copper has migrated to the rims of the pipes, creating a crusty rim.

Other artists are showing furniture, from range of materials, and a large hanging sculpture from irrigation piping and cable ties.

Varying degrees of experimentation are being shown in this exhibition showing where these artists might take their work.