About Weathermachines

the artist: Ryan Marsh Fairweather, born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Raised in Aberdeen, London, Dubai & Houston. Fairweather discovered glassblowing in art school and naturally began Bee Kingdom Collective with Tim Belliveau and Phillip Bandura where they work together in their hot glass studio in Calgary, Alberta. He also practices and teaches yoga in the city.

education: Alberta College of Art and Design, BFA in Glass, 2005

profession: member & founder of Bee Kingdom Collective, Calgary-based glassblowing collective and yoga instructor

awards & honours:

Avenue Magazine's Top 40 Under 40, 2010

Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, 2010

Designer for Pilchuck Glass School Centerpiece, 2008

Nominated for student Niche Award, 2005

what are the Weathermachines? It's a huge idea but to keep it short the idea began with Bee Kingdom's Future is Later exhibition in 2008 about what the end of man would mean. The apocalypse is usually considered a horrific ending to life; alternatively the Weathermachine takeover saves the planet. Machines now substitute all that was natural and carry on their work. Every thing, being and god, is robotic, sentient, happy, and cute.

inspirations for Weathermachines: cute culture, designer toys, hindu mythology technology, spirituality, transhumanism, technogaiansm, and lots of colour

who are Weathermachines for? Children and adults! Glasswork has been collected in Calgary, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Venice, Cambridge, Berlin, Munich, Athens, and Düsseldorf.

why use glass? Glasswork has always been known to be utilitarian and gorgeous, Fairweather aims to grow the concept of what glass is and use it in a sculptural manner with a cute aesthetic.

what's next? Fairweather is in the early stages of writing a Weathermachine book focusing on robot lion, Liolio, one of the god characters in the story. Also, his work will be seen at the Nadania Idriss New Glass and Photography Gallery as part of Berlin's Pictoplasma character walk in March 2011: http://pictoplasma.com/

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