Blanche Tilden

Blanche Tilden

Blanche Tilden creates forms that explore value, mechanical movement, and industrial and architectural uses of glass, translating something of the macro immensity of the built and material world to the intimacy of the jewellery object.

Her fascination with mechanical devices, fuelled by a desire to understand how things work, continually inspires her work and Blanche has developed a unique approach to her materials, in particular glass, which she explores both as a material for jewellery making and a universal metaphor.

Tilden is fascinated by modern forms of motion and the beauty of the industrial processes that express it; she looks to machinery, bicycles and architectural forms like windows, to every kind of linking structure. It follows that her kinetic language of jewellery is phrased in the modern materials of glass and metal; in her hands borosilicate glass, and stainless steel and titanium, are coaxed into articulated jewellery that is light, hardy and comfortable to wear." And indeed, Blanche's work is cherished by private collectors for its comfort; its considered balance, movement and weight. A Blanche Tilden necklace becomes an integral part of its owner's life.

Julie Ewington

In Blanche Tilden's work we see with clarity how glass is entwined with systems of production, both artisinal and industrial, giving form to ideas that have shaped the world around us. For a contemporary designer/craftsperson material culture is an evolving practice. In the future's past, Tilden's work will shed light on who we were.

Simon LeAmon

Blanche Tilden

Blanche Tilden is a Naarm/Melbourne based artist who graduated from the Canberra School of Art with a Bachelor of Art (Visual) specialising in Glass, followed by a Graduate Diploma of Art in Gold and Silversmithing. She went on train with renowned designer Su san Cohn as part of the Australia Council Traineeship program from 1996-97 and is has recently completed her PhD at Australian National University, Canberra.

Tilden's work has been included in major exhibitions internationally, inluding Unexpected Pleasures at NGV and London Design Museum, the Rigg Award (2006) and Melbourne Now (2013) both at NGV and SOFA Chicago. Her work is held in many pretigious collections including the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, the Museé des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Toledo Art Museum, Ohio and Australian state and regional public galleries.

In addition to her solo practice, Tilden has undertaken major commissions and collaborative projects, among them several projects with Australian designer Mary Featherstone and indigenous artist Maree Clarke.

A major retrospective exhibition Ripple Effect: a 25 year survey, curated by Jason Smith, Director of Geelong Gallery, toured Australia in 2021-23. This first comprehensive survey of Tilden’s career includes historical and contemporary works loaned from numerous public and private collections. To mark this career event, Tilden produced a range of new limited edition works, reinterpreting previous jewellery pieces to create new forms that expanded on her preoccupations with value, mechanical movement, and industrial and architectural uses of glass, translating something of the macro immensity of the built and material world to the intimacy of the jewellery object.