Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello OAM
Glass Artist
Artist’s Statement
As a contemporary urban based Aboriginal (Lower Southern Arrernte) glass artist, my aim is produce a body of culturally inspired works that pay tribute to our traditional weavers, and provide recognition for these ancient cultural practices through the contemporary medium of glass but within the aesthetics of both. My intention is to appropriate the contemporary medium of glass as a vehicle for cultural expression. In these works I pay tribute to the oldest living weaving practices in the world. They signify the continuity of heritage, place, peoples, community and our collective cultural identity. They mark the passage of knowledge between generations and the continuity of cultural practices since the beginning of living memory and reiterate the critical role our shared environment plays in sustainability and survival.
Brief Bio
Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello OAM is an award winning multidisciplinary artist of Aboriginal (Lower Southern Arrernte), Chinese and Anglo-Celtic descent. She is an internationally recognized glass artist and her works are held in major private and public collections in Australia, the UK, USA, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific.
Her awards include the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) 2013, Bay of Fires Arts Prize 2016, Reimagine Art Prize 2023, and finalist in the Tom Malone, Hindmarsh, Fuse Art Glass, Ranamok and Waterhouse Natural History Prizes.
Jennifer works from her studio at Canberra Glassworks, Australia, on unceded Ngunnawal/Ngambri lands.
Exhibitions & Awards
Recent Exhibitions
• Pattern Recognition – Canberra Contemporary, Canberra ACT, 2 November 2024 – 25 January 2025.
• Continuum – Crucible Showcase, Craft+Design Canberra, Canberra ACT, 1 November – 14 December 2024.
• New Traditions International Exhibition – Tel Aviv Biennale 2023, Tel Aviv, Israel, March – Nov 2023.
• Kate Challis RAKA Award 2023 exhibition, Arts West Gallery, University of Melbourne, VIC, August – September 2023.
• Confluence – solo exhibition, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange NSW, Australia, 1 Oct – 27 Nov 2022.
• The Alice Prize - Araluen Arts Centre Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, April -Dec 2022.
• Gather, solo exhibition, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 4-28 August, 2021.
• Glass Utopia – Design Canberra International Touring Exhibition, Venice International Glass Week, 3-26 Sept. 2020, Venice, Italy; Milan Design Week, September 2021, Milan, Italy; also shown CraftACT, Canberra, Nov- Dec 2019; Launcseston, TAS, March-April 2020.
• New Glass Now 2019 – Corning Museum of Glass, Corning NY, USA, May 2019 – Jan. 2020.
• Freshwater Saltwater Weave, solo exhibition, Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia USA, 20 Sept. 2018 – 7 Jan. 2019.
• Curious and Curiouser: Surprising Finds from the Rakow Library, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning New York, USA, 8 April 2017 – 19 February 2019.
• Made in Australia – Benhadje and Djilali Galerie, Berlin, Germany, June 2017 – Jan 2018.
Selection of Awards & Prizes
• ANAT Synapse Residency, in collaboration with Prof. Simon Haberle, School of Language, History and Culture, Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, ANU, February – October 2024.
• Awarded Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg International Art Prize, December 2023.
• Awarded Asia Pacific Region Craft Master by World Crafts Council, juried award, Donyang China, November, 2023.
• Finalist Kate Challis RAKA Award 2023, University of Melbourne, Victoria.
• Winner Reimagine Art Prize, Hornsby City Council, Sydney, NSW, June 2023.
• Finalist The Alice Prize, Araluen Arts Centre Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, April -June 2022.
• Finalist Waterhouse National Art and Science Prize 2020 – SAM, Adelaide, SA.
• CraftACT Artist in Residence 2019/20 – residency and research, Gudgenby Ready-cut Cottage Tidbinbilla and National Museum of Australia, ACT.
• Willoughby Bequest Commission – Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Powerhouse, Sydney Australia, 2019 -2020.
• Finalist New Glass Now 2019 – Corning Museum of Glass, Corning NY, USA, May 2019 – Jan. 2020.
• Finalist, Tom Malone Glass Prize 2019 Art Gallery of WA, Perth, WA, Feb-May, 2019.
• Kluge-Ruhe Collection Residency, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, US, Sept/Oct 2018.
•Finalist, Fuse Art Glass Prize 2018, Jam Factory Adelaide, SA, May – September, 2018.
• ACT Honour Roll, International Women’s Day, March 2018.
• Nominee ACT Senior Australian of the Year, 2018.
• Winner, Bay of Fires Art Prize, St. Helens,Tasmania, 11 June - 2 July, 2016.
• Australian Design Award Honouree, Object Australian Design Centre, Darlinghurst, Sydney, July 16, 2015.
• Winner, 30th Telstra NATSIA Award, MAGNT, Darwin, NT, 6Aug – 10 Nov. 2013.
• Canberra Critics Circle Award for Visual Arts 2013.
• Awarded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Fellowship 2013-2015, 6th National Indigenous Art Awards, Sydney Opera House, May, 2013.
• Winner, Wollotuka Acquisitive Art Prize, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, 2012.
