Delightly
Harriet Schwarzrock
5 – 25 November 2026
Location | Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston ACT 2604
Opening Hours | Wednesday–Sunday | 10am-4pm
Entry | Free | No bookings required
Access | template, template, template
Delightly is an act of dissent against the disappearance of scientific glassblowing. This rare and endangered craft skill risks being lost as scientific glass fabricators retire and few makers remain who can fabricate borosilicate glassware for experimental apparatus. Created by artist Harriet Schwarzrock, this exhibition reclaims that knowledge through sculptural experimentation, transforming scientific methods into objects of wonder and delight.
At the heart of Delightly is plasma illumination, a fascinating intersection of glass vessels, atmospheric manipulation and electromagnetic energy that yields luminous objects sometimes described as an aurora in a bottle. Working with salvaged borosilicate glass and traditional laboratory apparatus, Schwarzrock produces apothecary like vessels containing the fourth state of matter, plasma, whose luminous behaviour shifts and pulses with viewer proximity.
Visitors are invited into a suspended, darkened installation space, fabricated from non-conductive recycled materials, conjuring an experience of a phosphorescing Wunder-Kammer or cabinet of curiosity. A kaleidoscopic mosaic with multiple viewing ports encourages playful and multisensory engagement between individuals and this extraordinary state of matter.
Delightly bridges art and science, taking scientific practice out of the museum and offering wonder to children and adults alike. The exhibition reinforces Canberra's reputation as a centre for innovative contemporary glass practice and a place where curious, boundary pushing thinking manifests in tangible and delightful experiences.
The project demonstrates how dissent can be generative rather than purely oppositional. By salvaging abandoned equipment and reviving disappearing skills, Delightly proposes that scientific glassblowing deserves preservation not merely as heritage craft but as living practice capable of producing wonder, fostering innovation and creating accessible public art that bridges scientific precision with artistic imagination.
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Harriet Schwarzrock is a Canberra Region-based artist, working from a hot glassblowing studio in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, with her partner, glass artist Matthew Curtis. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University's School of Art and Design, investigating plasma illumination as a responsive and relational medium. Her practice combines techniques from glassblowing, neon fabrication, and scientific glass working to produce blown glass vessels that encase plasma illumination within vascular and chambered forms. These works respond luminously to a viewer's presence and touch, harnessing electromagnetic principles that once captivated early scientific investigators to make otherwise invisible relationships tangible and perceptible.
Her work has been exhibited at the Australian National University, Canberra; Berengo Studio, Murano, Venice; Canberra Glassworks; the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; and Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery. She has received numerous awards and prestigious residencies, including the Corning Museum of Glass, the inaugural Canberra Glassworks Art Group Fellowship, the AsiaLink Toyama residency in Japan, and the Stephen Procter Fellowship at the Australian National University. Her public artwork Murmuration received the ACT Art in Architecture award.
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Images | Harriet Schwarzrock in her studio 2026 | Photography by 5 Foot Photography