Dr Jeffrey Sarmiento

Jeffrey Sarmiento is Senior Lecturer and Head of Glass in the School of Art and Design at the Australian National University. Previously he served as Associate Professor in Glass at the University of Sunderland, where he completed a PhD in 2011. Educated at Rhode Island School of Design, he has been a Fulbright Fellow in Denmark and artist in residence at UrbanGlass in New York, S12 in Bergen, Norway, and Pilchuck Glass School. A pioneer of print techniques for kiln glass, he has taught workshops in China, Australia, New Zealand, Estonia, Latvia, Switzerland, Ireland, the UK and the USA. He has recently been a guest critic at UMPRUM Academy in Prague, Czech Republic, a Jury member for Young Glass at Ebeltoft Glasmuseum, and a co-curator for European Glass Context.

Known for his creative practice exploring cultural identity and the graphic image in glass, Sarmiento embeds layers of information in his intricately constructed objects, sculptures and public commissions. The cutting and pasting of printed glass involves kiln formed lenticular imagery and a graphic ‘swim’ within the transparent medium. He won the International Glass Prize 2012 at Glazenhuis, Belgium, and his 2013 solo exhibition at National Glass Centre in Sunderland toured to the USA. His collaborative work was included in Glasstress Gotika at the 56^th Venice Biennale. He is represented by Bulleye Projects, USA.

PhD, University of Sunderland

Encapsulating narratives of ethnicity in glass artworks is the focus of my creative practice-based research. Combining concepts with process, my approach blends responses to ethnic contexts with techniques for embedding the graphic image in glass. Using cultural contexts as specific sites, collaboration with cultural communities and museum collections inform artworks that are metaphorical and literal lenses through which to view culture. Techniques of glass printing, waterjet cutting and kilnforming are combined in unique ways to create glass artworks.