Description
This piece SOLD through the iNVISeDGE website for $1395 in 2019.
Background Info and Provenance
A SEA-LIFE vase made BY HAND by Tina Cooper in 2001. This piece is FULLY SIGNED to the base. This art-glass vase is awe-inspiring and part of it is the sheer size of the piece. It’s about 43cm in height by 45.5cm at its widest and I’d estimate about 12kg in weight- it’s huge. This piece required Tina to orchestrate five highly skilled artisans around the furnace working for hours. Every part of the process is critical. The piece is hand-made from liquid currents of molten glass drawn from a 1200-degree Celsius furnace at exactly the right moment and then fused, layered and placed around a vessel.
The first time I came across a Tina Cooper piece I was struck by a few feelings- determination, grittiness and strong energy. I have since read further about Tina and those feelings could be pretty close to the money. Through reading her biography and a couple of newspaper articles Tina has encountered many challenges in life but she’s come through the other side with more energy than before. She’s a doer and this is immediately evident in her work. Many artists (men and women) would shy away from the work she puts in front of herself. Work of this complexity and size is almost impossible to create by hand and I’m sure people have told Tina that what she has wanted to create was impossible. But Tina has obviously not listened. Inspiring and stunning are the first two words that came to my mind when I got it.
I first noticed Tina’s early work- her Martini pieces, created in partnership with Mark Galton in the 1990’s. The Sea-Life series was done sometime later in the early 2000’s. The magic of the Barrier Reef (and Mother Nature) is clearly evident. This piece is like bringing some of the undersea inside your home. I love the contrasts in this one. The top is wispy in essence and minimalist but the bottom is brimming with energy like that of a coral reef. I see some of Tina’s determination here too. The bottom section has jagged lines, bold colours and splatters as if Tina’s spirited attitude is coming through. (In 2001 Tina’s business was still struggling to come into existence.) I also love the feeling of summer this one inspires- swimming, yellow sunshine and eating mangoes! (Some of the top section has the exact same colour and surface shine as a mango!)
Art-glass pumped out of Chinese factories in the thousands is cheap but rarely ignites any inspiration or passion- most ends up as landfill after a few years because when the trend has moved on the piece is basically worthless. If you believe artists jobs should be done by people and not machines consider investing in hand-made art. There are very few better ways to invest in your home, reduce your carbon footprint and create stories to be passed from one generation to the next. Tina Cooper’s work has been telling stories for about 30 years now and has etched a permanent place in the history of Australian art glass. I haven’t got a valuation certificate for this one from Tina yet (I’m not sure when I’ll get to Palmwoods next). I’ve had a few valued by her now and I’d say she’d value this one at around $3000. We’ve priced this piece so that professional delivery Australia-wide would be easily viable…. and to provide our customers with an exceptional investment!
1812
This piece was created by hand in 2001 and is in excellent condition. There is no damage to report at all. You won’t find a piece of this callibre at anywhere near this price anywhere. ___________
I’ve had this one at home for some time now and enjoyed rotating it to change what I’m seeing. It is extremely solid and stable on a table. It can’t be knocked down- it weighs about 12 kilograms (estimate only)- you would have to purposely push it over. __________
Measurements- Height- 43cm. Across at its widest- 45.4cm. Weight ESTIMATE- about 12kg. Read our 1180+ ebay feedback comments (ALL for vintage design SALES). This is your guarantee that I strive to describe my items as accurately as I can.
PICK-UP . . . from 30 or 40 minutes North of BRISBANE city is accepted but postage is preferred as my home is hard to find. Because of this I will nominate a friend or family member for you to collect the item from if you need collection. Pick-up in person must be worked out prior to purchase- thank you. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ POSTAGE is offered internationally. All our Decorative Arts pieces are delivered through AUSTRALIA POST. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ POSTAGE ESTIMATES. . . . ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ To BRISBANE- most of our pieces cost $15 - $18 to send. . . To SYDNEY or MELBOURNE- Small Vase- around $20 - $23, Medium Vase- around $20 - $25, Large Vase- around $24 - $30. Let us know if you need an EXACT COST for postage prior to purchase. The above postage estimates include $2.95 for a signature on delivery. . . INSURANCE against being lost or broken in transit up to the value of $200 is included in the estimates above. If your vase is cheaper or more expensive than $200 this will effect your postage fee slightly. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A BOXING FEE of $3.00 is included in the fee above to cover the cost of searching for and storing used packing materials. With the millions of cardboard boxes that end up as landfill every year we don’t believe in supporting the manufacture of boxes for post. Instead of buying new boxes and packing materials and passing this cost onto our customers we spend considerable time sourcing used boxes and then fashioning boxes to fit each item. We do the same for bubble-wrap and foam pieces. This requires a large investment of time, energy, ingenuity, organization and storage space- it is much easier and cheaper to buy new packing materials but I can’t justify taking the easy way out when so much packing material ends up polluting our earth. Our $3.00 charge does little to pay for the time (and storage) needed do this and to pack your item (there is also the time needed to get your package to the post office). This is something we’re happy to do for our customers and the environment. We appreciate your support in this area.
We accept DIRECT BANK DEPOSIT. We send photographic ID of the store owner (Michael Grealy) to all customers at the point of sale, along with media articles about iNVISeDGE with photos of Michael Grealy in them (most of these articles are about 10 years old). Your payment will be paid into an Australian ANZ bank account under the name Michael Grealy (or iNVISeDGE). Please read our ebay feedback spanning more than 15 years for irrefutable proof of our online trading history and reputation. Ebay feedback can ONLY be left by LEGITIMATE PAYING customers! Additionally please be aware that in Australia ALL consumers are protected BY LAW if the goods or services they buy are not as described. (But this should be of no concern- in our first 15 years of trading we have over 1150 positive ebay feedback comments and ZERO negative feedback comments.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On occasions a DIRECT BANK DEPOSIT can be made at the time of collection. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On occasions CASH payment when you collect your item may also be available. Confirm prior to purchase if you need this. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other payment methods are available but will incur additional fees. Tell us prior to purchase if you are unable to feel 100% confident with our trading history and payment methods so we can negotiate something else with you.
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