Cali Balles

THE ARTIST

Cali Balles is a graduate of the Material Art and Design program at Ontario College of Art and Design, and studied glass at Sheridan College of Crafts and Design. She is a recipient of the Royal Bank of Canada Award for glass and has received support from both the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. Balles lives and works in central Toronto, where she creates sculptural glass pieces and commissioned work.

I am fascinated by form. The repeating patterns found in natural forms and in city structures intrigue me, and influence my work. Using photography as a research tool, I document and study these forms at close range. I later attempt to evoke these functional forms in glass; branches, fronds and tendrils become a vocabulary for composition. By working in clear glass, avoiding the use of colour, and utilizing a range of surface textures, the focus on form and structure predominates. By combining various glass techniques such as blown forms, that are lifelike and fluid, with mould blown forms, that are more controlled and rigid, I attempt to illustrate the details of my environment.