Craft / Rising tide (marea crescente), by NOT. At ANU Drill Hall Gallery, until October 19. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

NOT is an Australian who works in glass and ceramics and who lives part of the time in Canberra and part in Sydney. He is showing two installations of glass objects created in Murano, Italy – the island famous for its long tradition of glass-making.

He was fortunate in gaining a place in a very young furnace, with a young maestro – the artist who runs the furnace.

The artist prefers to use discontinued and discarded materials. He found the last remaining uranium glass in NZ and took it to Murano and mixed it with ground marble.

The pieces that were made are being shown in large glass vitrines in the Riverbend Room at the Drill Hall Gallery. They are lit with UV light, which gives it a dark and eerie appearance, exactly what the artist was seeking – he wanted the vessels and spheres to look as though they are toxic, as if they have just been dug up from a dump. They definitely do not have the smooth and shiny surfaces of much of the glass we see today.

The glass objects evoke old vessels that we might see in an archaeological dig – the forms are unfamiliar, the colours swirl around the walls and the surfaces are rough. Each is different and very specifically arranged so that there is a relationship between each of them.

Their presence in the Riverbend Room is quite deliberate. The paintings are reflected in the glass of the showcases, and carry on a conversation. I found the reflections on the glass rather disruptive and would have preferred to see the objects without the white trunks of Nolan’s gum trees.

Apparently unusually, the combination of glass and Italian marble in the objects holds the colour when the lighting is turned off, fading gradually.

The lagoon in Murano is filled with the junk and detritus of life – old bikes, washing machines and other rubbish. This had an impact on NOT, portrayed in the vessels in this installation.

The glass objects in this show are not pretty, and are in stark contrast to most of the glass vessels we see. I recommend a visit to see the differences.