Julia Reimer
Julia Reimer co-owns and operates Firebrand Glass Studio, with Tyler Rock, in Black Diamond, Alberta. When she was first introduced to glass-blowing at ACAD, Calgary, she instinctively knew she had discovered her ideal medium. After graduation with a BFA in 1996, she continued her studies through travels to the US, Scotland, Spain, France and Hungary. While in Europe she deepened her knowledge of design and European glass-making techniques. She has also studied in Japan.
Julia’s glass works are a product of the landscape she grew up in, inspired by the foothills of Southern Alberta, where she acquired an appreciation for “the crisp prairie light, and the undulating hills and grasslands carved by wind and water”. She is able to combine the play of light, colour and movement with her material. Her works are characterized by simplicity of form, and uncluttered minimalism. They evoke the shapes of nature, and its life force, without imitating them. Her clusters of translucent bowls – “Grey Swallow” or “Home” – recall birds’ nests, or eggs, potent spaces that could house life. “Watergauge” suggests bundles of reeds or prairie grasses.
Julia has won scholarships and awards from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Corning Museum of Glass and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her works are featured in the publication 500 Glass Objects (2006), and she is the inaugural recipient of the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery’s National Award for Excellence (2008), as well as the RBC Award for Glass. Her works are found in galleries throughout Canada, the US, in Canadian government departments, and in the collection of the Emperor and Empress of Japan. She has exhibited in Europe, and been chosen as Artist in Residence at institutions such as the Corning Museum of Glass, New York; the University of South Australia; and The JamFactory Art Centre, Adelaide. Landscape, geology and the unique Australian environment continue to inspire her work.
Julia’s glass works are a product of the landscape she grew up in, inspired by the foothills of Southern Alberta, where she acquired an appreciation for “the crisp prairie light, and the undulating hills and grasslands carved by wind and water”. She is able to combine the play of light, colour and movement with her material. Her works are characterized by simplicity of form, and uncluttered minimalism. They evoke the shapes of nature, and its life force, without imitating them. Her clusters of translucent bowls – “Grey Swallow” or “Home” – recall birds’ nests, or eggs, potent spaces that could house life. “Watergauge” suggests bundles of reeds or prairie grasses.
Julia has won scholarships and awards from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Corning Museum of Glass and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her works are featured in the publication 500 Glass Objects (2006), and she is the inaugural recipient of the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery’s National Award for Excellence (2008), as well as the RBC Award for Glass. Her works are found in galleries throughout Canada, the US, in Canadian government departments, and in the collection of the Emperor and Empress of Japan. She has exhibited in Europe, and been chosen as Artist in Residence at institutions such as the Corning Museum of Glass, New York; the University of South Australia; and The JamFactory Art Centre, Adelaide. Landscape, geology and the unique Australian environment continue to inspire her work.