Tina Cooper is an artist with a distinctive visual voice. Even for experienced artists, glass can be a temperamental medium.
Malleable for only seconds at a time at the right temperature, shattering on the whisper of a cool breeze, it demands 100 per cent attention and instant decisions.
Despite the impatient and sometimes unpredictable nature of glass, Tina, who has worked with a variety of mediums, has been captivated by it for 36 years.
“I don’t doubt myself and will try anything in the arts, as that’s my happy place,” she says.
“You must be totally in the zone working on glass. There’s no time to stop and think.”
As a leading figure in Australian glass art, Tina uses nature — earth, fire, water and air — to create dramatic works which reflect her passionate relationship with the environment. Both choreographer and visionary, she dances with fire, orchestrating up to five highly skilled artisans to work in unison in the studio.
With a flair for colour, shape and form, her concepts and interpretation of life evolve into awe-inspiring artwork.
But it is Tina’s ability to go beyond the conscious realm which makes her glass work special.
“Everything becomes heightened in your body. It’s as if you’re in a meditative space but creating through your hands; something that you’re not thinking, it’s a doing,” she says.
“It’s because you’re putting your energy into it. It’s like your life goes beyond your life because those pieces will inherit your spirit in a form.”
Tina’s intuition has guided her during her journey, which she says has been full of twists and turns. One of those twists led to her introduction to hot glass.
She met glass artists Mark Galton and Lucas Salton while out to lunch in Mapleton with her daughter, Jasmin, in 1988 and later visited Mark at Chris Pantano’s The Dome Glass Studio at Montville.
It was a moment that changed her life.
“I stood in awe of the process. There was this energy. It just flowed,” she says.
She describes an “overwhelming sense of knowing something exciting was around the corner”.
The offer of learning the craft was made and Tina trusted her intuition and took up the challenge.
After doing a crash course in the basic skills alongside Mark, Martini Glass was formed and the pressure was on.
“This was the start of the rollercoaster ride of an artist’s life, moulding your character to survive and hopefully thrive,” she tells salt.
The humble beginnings taught Tina to trust her own ability to create, take on challenges and solve problems. Martini Glass was sold at markets where Tina’s daughter, Jasmin, was a massive help, carrying boxes twice her size to and from the car, and selling glass. “She was my support buddy,” Tina says.
Martini Glass was a test of Tina’s courage, resilience and self-belief, but after five years, life took another twist, and she left it behind to pursue her own dreams.
Tina has travelled over the years to learn from master glassblowers, combining their knowledge with her self-taught skills. She was particularly inspired by United States glass artist William Morris.
“The way he worked was storytelling, emotional and spiritual, and that connected to my personality and life beliefs and became my new way of working with the team,” she says.
Glass artist Stanislav Melis gave Tina a piece of advice which freed her from a lack of self-worth and from measuring herself against other artists.
“He said, ‘Tina, you are a good artist. People want you in your work, just trust in yourself and follow your gut feeling’,” she says. “I realised, ‘Tina, you must step off that cliff, connect with the moment and capture this in your art’.”
Over time, Tina grew to trust her instincts. “When you think about a design and dream it, it comes to you out of nowhere sometimes, then I start making the piece, transforming this feeling into a solid form.
She says an artist’s energy and emotion is invested in each piece “and this becomes something that you feel when you see into art”.
“This evokes your emotions that clients can connect to and reflect on. By supporting artists, you are supporting someone who is living their truth, who dares to transform pain or pleasure into art.”
Tina has completed numerous commissions, and pieces of her work are held by collectors in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Africa, New Zealand, Tonga, Germany and Australia.
She was honoured to create a funeral urn for the ashes of the Tongan King and several more Tongan funeral and wedding pieces over the years.
Tina also says representing Australia at the Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design fair, in Chicago in 2001 was a huge acknowledgment of her achievements. And while she has achieved a place for her work on a world platform, it was a hillside at Montville that captured her heart.
Twenty-five years ago, she bought a block of land upon which she was able to build the artist’s dream: a home, studio and gallery, nestled in private, landscaped gardens with stunning lake views.
All manner of twists of fate have combined to make the dream a reality, from scoring the block, which was out of her price range, to finding a “dream team” of carpenters, to sourcing the perfect leadlight windows in a salvage yard.
Another twist in Tina’s life was meeting her glass artist partner, Wolfgang Engel, an engineer-turned-master glassblower. The pair have formed a winning combination, and Wolfgang’s Red Door Studio is now located next to Tina’s at Montville.
Their latest exhibition, Gondwanaland Echoes of the Past, open at the home gallery by appointment, celebrates Tina’s 36 years in hot glass and features both of their work.
There are Tina’s totems, inspired by ancient deities, made from reclaimed Mooloolaba Wharf timber, handblown glass and metal sculptures.
Wolfgang’s new creations are based on carnivorous plants and set on salvaged wood.
Tina is grateful to all her team members over the years and the studio owners who have allowed her to hire time but singled out Jonathon Westacott of Dulong as a huge support. “I respect his abilities as a glass artist and a great human being,” she says.
She is thankful to her clients and collectors, especially those who believed in her early in her journey at the markets.
“If I’d known 36 years ago what I know now! It was a long journey and many lessons along the way. Believe in yourself and the process of your journey.”