Collecting Nostalgia a group exhibition by Jan Rigden-Clay, Alexandra Chambers, Emilie Patteson, Mikki Trail, Phoebe Porter, Tom Moore, Trish Roan, Danielle Rickaby and Jaan Poldaas. Canberra Glassworks. Until April 24.

We have to thank Aimee Frodsham, the curator of this exhibition, for an illuminating insight into the world of marbles. I occasionally come across solitary ones lurking in old toy boxes and cigarette tins like the one Tom Moore has on display, but until now I had never considered their possibilities. That is why I was surprised by Tom Moore's work devoted to marbles called Little Low Heavens: A Guide to Making and Enjoying Stonkers which he submitted as his 1994 fourth year graduation work. A specially made wooden box holds examples of the marbles he has made as well as an artist's book of writings about the history and the making of glass marbles. Two of these marbles embody a special memory as they were made out of offcuts of glass from his colleagues Klaus Moje and Judi Elliott. Tom Moore's sculptural glass piece Shanks Pony 2010 which is also in the exhibition demonstrates the connection between Moore's 1994 glass marbles that are an example of his early interest in Venetian techniques of cane working and his subsequent work where the technique has become a characteristic part of his current art practice.

Jane Rigden-Clay is the curator of a small Tasmanian museum devoted to marbles. She also makes marbles for a worldwide collecting market. Examples of her work on display demonstrate her skill in a variety of glassmaking techniques. Some of these marbles because of their larger size and their display stands, as well as their ornate decoration look more like paperweights. To qualify as marbles however they must be perfectly spherical so that they can actually be used.

Phoebe Porter is a Canberran jewellery maker. There are three of Porter's necklaces from her Vintage Necklace Collection in the exhibition. The necklaces are made from thin flat oblong links of stainless steel and titanium linked together with a skilled precision that characterises this artist's work. The vintage marbles from her childhood collection are caught in each necklace's bottom link that is fashioned cleverly as a horizontal form of pendant. The contrast between the austerity of the metal and the warm tactile quality and colour of the marbles is particularly attractive.

Danielle Rickaby and Jaan Poldaas are two artists who work at JamFactory in Adelaide. In 2012 they had an exhibition of over 300 marbles at the Adelaide gallery Paper, String and Plastic. Danielle Rickaby is also known for her Turf paperweights interring within glass the perfect carefree lawn. In this exhibition their large marbles (sometimes called tom-bowlers) sit in flat concrete cradles. They have been exhibited on the floor as they would be in a game. These funky, brightly coloured, striped and patterned marbles enfold like mini-time capsules nostalgic patterns and colours reminiscent of the 1950s.

Emilie Patteson's work always shows an interesting crossover between drawing and glassmaking. She's been collecting natural objects since childhood. Previous series such as the Instilled Series of 2015 have shown botanical specimens preserved in in glass jars. In the Seed Store series in the exhibition the artist has expanded this concept to imbed the actual seeds (kangaroo paw, banksia, apricot) into glass marbles. Here in their small glass spheres, they turn and twirl like they are caught in the wind. The artist is well aware that by preserving these particular seeds they are ironically destroyed, thus symbolising the life cycle but also emphasising the vulnerability of nature. Delicate drawings accompany this thoughtful and accomplished work.

Alexander Chambers, an American artist residing in Queanbeyan, has a nostalgic wish to revisit the world before the internet. By exchanging marbles with fellow artists she hopes to recreate the fun of receiving personal parcels through the mail. She has arranged these marbles in pairs; the marble she received and the one she made in return. Although historically marbles were made in materials other than glass, it is not likely wool and paper were ever used like the two examples on display. However it is the exchange between the artists that is relevant here and Chambers' own marbles made in response to the marble received. The correspondence between the artists is documented but perhaps is really only of personal interest. The value of the work lies in the visual impact of the variety of marbles on display and the artist's own sympathetic response.

Canberra artist Mikki Trail has also been inventive linking the game of marbles to school days. Her small narrative installations firmly and quite cleverly link marbles with school-day experiences. Trail knows just when to stop adding components to these small scenarios of assembled objects, thus avoiding the banal and obvious, and leaving them open to more than one interpretation.

Victorian artist Trish Roan has chosen to look at the actual practice of collecting. Fragments of used soap, old rubbers and pebbles are arranged as treasures on mount boards. They pose the question: is it the object or the practice of collecting that makes a bona fide collection? Trish Roan is an original and thoughtful artist who looks at life from a very individual perspective. These collections of objects, while not perhaps intrinsically interesting in themselves, have a certain fascination when grouped together. It at least proves to my mind that it is the act of selecting, sorting and displaying objects of any kind which can represent a true collection. Roan's clever video installation in the Stackhouse Space has the sound of marbles being played across a wooden floor while a white line projected on the floor outlines the profiles of the games' participants.

Curator Aimee Frodsham has tapped into the art of making marbles as well as bringing into focus the process of collecting and the ensuring memories this can evoke. And thanks to the nine artists involved, I don't think anyone visiting this exhibition will ever underestimate the creative value of the humble marble again.