Elaine Miles has maintained a solo practice, continually embraced the medium of handblown glass, for over two decades. She enjoys drawing inspiration from ancient glass techniques and works with teams of leading international artists to make her artwork and installations. She has exhibited nationally and internationally in over 80 exhibitions.
Elaine holds degrees in Ceramic Design, Applied Arts (Hons), Fine Arts (Masters) and a PhD in Fine Arts from Monash University. Her artwork appears in the National Glass Collection at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Australia, and within the American Museum of Glass collection, USA. Amongst numerous professional successes she is a past recipient of the Creative Fellowship at Wheaton Arts, and is a winner of the Civic Choice Award at the prestigious Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture.
Ancient themes and philosophies of phenomenology and mediation underpin her interest in fine arts and glass. She has explored ancient meditative sounds, mystical notions and historic glass and handcrafts. Today Miles’ latest art series explores the narratives that surround ancient murrine glass, old fashioned embroidery, medieval forged metal and components of lost-wax casting. Her specialty is to adopt various hand craft practices to re-contextualize the meaning of the more familiar notions of glass objects.
Those who have commissioned Elaine’s glass artworks include high quality public venues and organisations such as The Sydney Arts Festival, The National Museum of Singapore, wPS1 art radio (an affiliate of PS1 gallery/MOMA New York), The City of Wyndham, Roulette Experimental Sound Space (New York), Melbourne Recital Centre Inaugural opening, Federation Square, Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery (The National Glass Centre) and various state run Craft Councils and State run Regional Galleries.
Within her current ancient amphora and lotus perfume bottles series, an engraved single lotus flower appears with her signature, discretely on the artworks surface. This flower is reminiscent of Elaine’s deep connection with nature, as well as being a symbol of beauty and peace. The lotus flower represents ancient notions of enlightenment; the lotus bud arises from the darkness and only flowers when it reaches the light.