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Artist Q&A: Rick Vermey - Exploring Creativity and Collaboration in Glass Art
With a career spanning over 25 years in public art, Rick Vermey has created a public art portfolio that reflects his talent for integrating art with a diverse range of architectural spaces. The Cooling Brothers team has had the pleasure of collaborating with Rick on numerous projects, including Wanneroo Cultural Centre, Bunbury’s SWIT Automotive Training TAFE and St John of God Hospital, as well as the award winning Wexford Apartments.
Many of Rick’s projects showcase the possibilities of using glass to transform public spaces. His works often harness the unique properties of glass to play with light and transparency, creating dynamic environments that change with the sun’s movement. In this Artist Q&A, Rick shares insights into his creative journey, the challenges of working in glass, and his collaborative process with architects and designers.
How did your career as a visual artist begin?
Art has been my obsession and my vocation from an early age - creating became my way of making sense of life. So I naturally gravitated to art school as a teen, where I found a supportive community of gifted peers. Together we cultivated the conditions to allow us to grow. After graduation I was active in artist run venues and studio collectives for many years.
My art making ranges across print, photography, painting, sculpture and public artworks. For the past 25 years I've focussed on producing site specific commissioned artworks for the public realm (aka Public Art). I'm known these days mostly for my architecturally integrated artworks. I often work in collaboration with architects and other professionals on artworks for integration within the fabric of buildings. This involves finding creative ways to add value to prosaic materials such as bricks, concrete, various commercial claddings, perforated metals, and of course glass.
What do you enjoy most about working with glass as a creative medium?
Having an exhibition history of working with printed media, it's been a direct step forward to seek out ways of printing my artwork designs on an architectural scale. My past studio research included creative exploration of layering, and transparency.
The most magical property of glass as a medium is its light transmission. I've been fortunate enough to make a few things that take advantage of the beautiful ephemeral quality of changing light as well as a tangible physical presence. I'm often fascinated by the continually shifting shadows and the projected colours my work can generate, hand-in-hand with the sun. What excites me about artwork of this nature is that it can not be fully pinned down, each person has a unique viewing experience each time.
How do you incorporate feedback from clients or collaborators into your work?
My design process when working on a commissioned project is quite formalised. There are staged design progress reviews linked to milestones, typically conducted in person via presentations followed by discussion. These moments require clear communication and attentive listening. I've found a positive attitude to identifying solutions to challenges is essential, alongside an ability to articulate artistic intent objectively. Staying across all the little details of the job, not just the art 'content', makes a big difference too. Particularly when working with experts in other fields, such as engineering, construction, manufacturing, project management and so forth.
My most successful creative outcomes have arisen in circumstances where each partner around the table on a collaborative design team is equally passionate about a shared vision. When knowledge is generously shared and complementary professional skills can be leveraged toward a common goal, then the artwork can become more than the sum of its parts, elevating the excellence of the results. I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with Noongar artists Maitland Hill and Kerry Stack to deliver an public art facade for the new hospitality and tourism centre at Mandurah TAFE.
Noongar artists Maitland Hill and Kerry Stack were nominated via the percent for art tender process to deliver the artwork for the façade.
What has been your most challenging project to date?
Probably the most challenging (and the most ambitious) project I've worked on to date would be LIV Apartments for Defence Housing Australia, in Victoria Ave, Fremantle. That project is made from 3 different composite sheet claddings, simulating patinated weathered natural materials, all supported by an elaborate modular aluminium sub-structure.
It was exceptionally complex to design, to manufacture and then to install, requiring a team of highly skilled professionals, from engineers, to boilermakers, to electricians, to programmers. My creative partner on that project was Daniel Giuffre, a computational designer. The design process made use of advanced parametric modelling, to simulate the physical forces of the Freo Doctor wind blowing over a digital sail-cloth stretched across the building aperture. This enabled us to find a site-specific billowing form for a soffit-mounted overhead sculpture.
The artwork is an expansive and cavernous overhead sculptural canopy which clads a thoroughfare between 2 streets, passing through the belly of the building. The artwork performs as a threshold one passes through, wrapping around several columns, climbing up one side wall, wrapping across the ceiling and down the opposite wall. It also includes dynamically changing lighting effects controlled by live weather sensors.
Precise architectural integration and coordination with onsite construction contractors was mission critical in the execution of that project. This is an example of a project that exceeded expectations due to a supportive and collaborative team.
I am presently working on the early design stages of another challenging project that will use glass to great effect. It is for the upgrade of a public swimming pool arena. The complexity here is inherent in achieving something technically challenging but also innovative, optimising the material properties of ImagInk Ceramic Printing to achieve a gradient blend of transparency through opacity across a glazed surface. It's exciting to try something new again.
What advice do you have for students currently studying, or considering a career in visual arts?
First up, do some deep reflection to evaluate if you truly want what comes with the life of a visual artist. This is not a sustainable path for the flaneur or the dilettante! There are no shortcuts and you are unlikely to achieve glory, fame or fortune. Realistically, you can anticipate years of sacrifice. And if you are truly committed, then be prepared for rejections. There will be plenty of those, whilst you hone your craft, build resilience and refine your vision.
Learn from others, including pushing outside your comfort zone, exploring other fields. Stay current with technical skills. build supportive networks of like minded creative and professional people. Seek guidance from a receptive mentor. Read widely. Look at art, often. Participate. Get involved. And keep an eye out for opportunities to learn from professionals in the field you're excited about. Formal training is also advantageous. It will provide a bedrock for the foundations of a life in artmaking.
And lastly, use sunblock!!
What does the future hold for public art in Perth, and Australia?
I am optimistic about the future for Public Art in Australia. Western Australia in particular has been fortunate to reap the benefit of the government's legislated Percent for Art Scheme, which has created incredible opportunities for artists spanning 25+ years and ongoing. This has led to a gradual but notable shift in attitudes towards the valuable contribution of arts and culture in the public realm, along with a concurrent up-skilling of capable practitioners across the visual arts, the construction industry and the professions. Side by side with skills development, Public Art has also made a significant contribution to the economy, generating employment opportunities and injecting capital into the manufacturing sector.
Then there are the many intangible value adds that creativity in the community delivers for society. The Earth without art is just 'eh', after all! I'm convinced that creative thinkers are the key skilled workers of the future. Cultivating public familiarity with the experience of art in day to day life helps to build appreciation and respect for creativity, and potentially to inspire our future professional artists to step up and lead the way.
Where could someone go in Perth to view one of your projects?
For a broad overview of my work, my website is the first port of call: www.rickvermey.com. For seeing work in the flesh, the most recognised of my projects is the large Sky Ribbon bridges installation on Tonkin Highway, at the Perth Airport interchange with Leach Highway. That one is quite conspicuous. The LIV Apartments project is also noteable, on Victoria Avenue in Fremantle, linking the Leisure Centre with the main road into the Freo town centre.
My artworks in glass are scattered around the State. There is a great digiglass privacy wall inside the Library at Wanneroo Cultural Centre. There is a monumental fritted ink artwork on the face of Building 2 on Edith Cowan University's Joondalup Campus, facing the Vice Chancellory building across the courtyard.
I'm also very proud of an innovative glass artwork I made for The Wexford Apartments building in Subiaco Centro. (Its actually on Sheen Street, not Wexford St). That one pioneered a fresh technique by combining vanceva colour films with opaque imagink fritted ink print, and it exemplifies the ephemerality of light as an "extra" medium when working with glass.
Are there any resources you would like to share with other potential artists?
I maintain a resources page on my website, with links accessible to all. It includes some essential resources for arts related professional organisations, such as ArtsLaw, NAVA, Artsource, The Copyright Council, Viscopy, Art on the Move, Artbank, ResArtis, ArtsHub, along with a few journals, studio collectives and galleries.