Neon Playground: Hotshop Edition

Neon Playground: Hotshop Edition

Step into an intensive five-day exploration where furnace and light meet. Neon Playground: Hotshop Edition, brings together the precision of neon bending and the expressive potential of hotshop glassblowing, using hand-pulled soda-lime glass tubes as the bridge between these two disciplines.

Led by renowned commercial neon bender and artist David Cooper, glass artist and plasma wizard Harriet Schwarzrock, and glass artist and educator Robert Schwartz, this masterclass offers a rare opportunity to learn from practitioners who are actively pushing the boundaries of illuminated glass.

Participants will work with hand-pulled tube produced in a glassblowing hotshop, gaining insight into how soda-lime glass behaves differently from standard neon tubing. Through demonstrations and hands-on exploration, students will engage with bending and shaping processes while incorporating unique colours, optic mould textures, and more complex patterning not possible in contemporary neon tube.

This course is designed as a true crossover experience. Neon artists will encounter different possibilities for color and pattern using the hotshop processes, opening new pathways for experimentation and material versatility. Hotshop artists will explore the precision and control involved in neon bending, while building an understanding of its delicacy and technical challenges.

Throughout the week, emphasis is placed on experimentation, material curiosity, and the exchange of knowledge between disciplines. Participants are encouraged to build on their existing expertise, test ideas beyond their usual practice, and move between hotshop and neon with curiosity and openness.

Please note: Due to high demand and limited places, participation in this class is by application. Artists must submit a CV and a short statement (max 300 words) to wendy.dawes@canberraglassworks.com outlining their experience and reasons for applying by 1 August 2026. Successful applicants will be notified by 7 August 2026 - full payment is then required by 30 September, 2026.

Requirements

This masterclass is intended for artists with intermediate to advanced experience in either neon bending or glassblowing. Participants should be confident working in a studio environment and ready to engage with both technical and conceptual aspects of the material. With shared access to both torches and hotshop time rather than individual setups, students will work independently and collaboratively through structured stages of planning, preparation, making, and finishing.

Outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will have expanded their understanding of both neon and hotshop practices, explored new material possibilities, and developed a broader approach to working with glass that supports ongoing experimentation and cross-disciplinary practice.

Times and dates

• Induction and welcome drinks: Tuesday 13 October, 8 to 9 am.
• Course: 9 am to 5 pm, Tuesday 13 October to Saturday 17 October (including a half-hour lunch break each day)
• Note: After class access will be available at the Glassworks on Thursday evening from 5 to 8.30 pm for inducted users.

Teaching Artists

David Cooper

David Cooper is the artist behind much of Sydney’s neon. Beginning his career as an indentured apprentice with Neolite Neon in Sydney, he trained under master craftsmen Norm Barton and Tom Trengove, completing his NSW Glassblower Trade Certificate in 1984. From these early foundations, spanning tube bending, pumping, wiring and pattern making, David developed the technical skill and creative vision that would shape his career. Despite an early interest in neon as an artistic medium, demand within the commercial signage industry shaped much of his professional life. As the founding Creative Director and operator of Cooper Neon from the early 1990s until 2015, he manufactured signage and neon, and led major installations for iconic organisations including the ‘big four’ banks, Lagardère Travel Retail Group, the Sydney Aquarium and Optus. Over the life of the business, the company employed more than 95 people and established a strong reputation as an industry leader. Beyond his commercial practice, David contributed significantly to the signage industry through training, guidance and technical expertise. For more than a decade, he served as State Chair of the Sign and Graphic Association, worked closely with TAFE NSW, and played an important role as part of the peak advisory body responsible for redesigning the NSW TAFE curriculum. He regularly leads workshops at Canberra Glassworks, with a focus on safe studio practices, material knowledge, and the discipline required to master glass handling and gas discharge. David’s work has been featured at Fire & Light (Sydney, 1992), Oz Arts (1994), and Architectural Review (1994). He has also collaborated with artists and designers including Alun Leach-Jones, Tracey Emin, Brendan Van Hek, Eugenia Raskopoulos, Sean Morris and Susie Dureau, undertaking commissions as well as the restoration and recreation of works. Now retired from commercial sign manufacturing, David has returned to the flame to create neon artworks under his original studio name, Neon Nostalgia, a return to his artistic roots and early passion for neon as an expressive medium. His current work explores the possibilities of neon while continuing the traditions and techniques that define the craft.

Harriet Schwarzrock

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 glassworking 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.

Robert Schwartz

Robert Schwartz is an American glass artist, working from Canberra Glassworks while establishing his own home studio. He holds a BFA from Ball State University, Muncie Indiana USA and a Master of Visual Arts (Advanced) from the Australian National University Canberra Australia. Since moving to Australia, he has worked as a gaffer and assistant to leading artists, and regularly contributes to large-scale production projects. Robert is also a passionate educator, teaching at Canberra Glassworks and running programs for youth and emerging artists and Casual Lecturer at Sydney College of the Arts. He works primarily in the hotshop, bringing a strong foundation in glassblowing processes and material understanding. In recent years, he has begun exploring neon bending through mentorship with David Cooper, developing an appreciation for its precision and technical demands. His interest in neon is grounded in its commercial applications, with a focus on preserving the history and craft of traditional lighting and signage. In this masterclass, he offers a hotshop perspective while contributing to the dialogue between these two practices.

About the class

• All glass, tools, colour and electrodes is included in the course fee.
• Each student will receive one small transformer.
• Lunch is included in the course fee. Please indicate any dietary requirements in the booking form.

Subsidised rates

Thanks to the support of our Christmas Ornament Fundraiser, the cost of this masterclass has been heavily subsidised, making this unique opportunity to explore neon and glassblowing more accessible to artists and creative practitioners.

Payment plans

Payment plans are available on application. Please contact the Public Programs Manager, Wendy Dawes via wendy.dawes@canberraglassworks.com (full payment must be completed before the start of the workshop).