Parallel

Blanche Tilden
born Australia, 1968

Parallel  1995
flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium
National Gallery of Australia
Purchased 1995

Parallel is an early work that exemplifies an enduring theme in Tilden’s work: the endless circle. With its neatly expressed partnership between glass rods and square stainless-steel plates, Parallel speaks to the inter-dependence of the materials of modern architecture. Neither is privileged. As Tilden notes:

The glass parts I made for this necklace are not beads, they aren’t threaded on a string—I connect them seamlessly with the metal parts by creating a rivet at the two ends of each U-shaped glass component. This necklace has no catch.