Beyond Measure
14October - 3 December
2016
My work Beyond Measure was selected as a finalist in the The Incinerator Art Award - Art for Social Change.
Here Bethany Wheeler uses natural forms to create a visual metaphor for the pressures that we are putting on the environment. She contrasts her poetic metaphor with a direct quote from Tim Flanery:“If seaweed farms covered 9% of the ocean they could produce enough biomethane to replace all of today’s needs in fossil fuel energy, while removing 53 gigatonnes of CO2 (about the same as all current human emissions) per year from the atmosphere. It could also increase sustainable fish production to provide 200kg per year, per person, for 10 billion people. Additional benefits include reduction in ocean acidification and increased ocean primary productivity and biodiversity. Many of the technologies required to achieve
this are already in widespread use, if at a comparatively minuscule scale.” - Tim Flannery, The Atmosphere of Hope
KIGA 2016 - Kirra Illuminating Glass Award
Winter Light
Bethany was a finalist in the Kirra Illuminated Glass Award (KIGA) is held in association with Federation Square’s The Light In Winter program in June 2016.
Winter Light is a continuation of a body of work exploring time, place and memory through landscape. The work aims to capture the
unique seasonal light of coastal Victoria using a contemporary take on the mid century French technique Gemmail, which combines shards of glass with light.
Aesthetics In A Time Of Emergency
Craft ACT 26 May - 9 July 2016
Aesthetics In A Time Of Emergency explores current social issues, such as nuclear disasters and climate change, and its impact on humanity.
Nadia Mercuri, Jasmine Targett, Sarah Field, Jennifer King & Bethany Wheeler.
A paradigm of water + compassion
Living our future in the present, an insensitive and opaque way of thinking about the consequences of decisions seems to guide society – blind sighted and void of tolerance. Concepts of societal compassion fatigue are explored through socio-political irony and metaphors for me-now materialism. Focusing on our relationship with the waters that surround us, and our perception of ownership pertaining to this environment, these works attempt to make sense of the world around us, reflected by a thread common to us all.
Kirra Galleries 3 December - 3 January 2015
Virtuoso, featured work by nine of Australia’s most talented and inspiring glass makers – Lisa Cahill, Matthew Curtis, Benjamin Edols, Kathy Elliott, Brenden Scott French, Holly Grace, Ruth McCallum-Howell, Bethany Wheeler and Nick Wirdnam.
The exhibition was opened by Simon Warrender, Executive Director and Founder of the Melbourne Prize Trust.