Just Imagine

Jenny Smith

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:50:06 +0000

After 25 years combining a law practice in Auckland City with raising three children, Jenny is now working full-time as a cast glass artist from her studio in Auckland.
The fundamental idea in Jenny’s work is to cast patterns abstracted from nature into glass conveying a sense of timeless strength.
In her series “Silk Road: Patterns of Time”, textures, folds and colours of silk are translated into glass to evoke the textures and patterns of our environment and to convey the timeless nature of these ever-recurring patterns and their sense of inevitability.
In Jenny’s “Landscape” series, texture and form combine to convey the ruggedness and drama of New Zealand’s landscape and seascape.

Les Baxter

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:39:15 +0000

Les Baxter, Director of Architectural Glassworks, has worked in glass design and manufacturing for over 30 years and followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, Bela Kozak, whose work in the fields of stained glass and leadlight – both traditional and contemporary – is well renowned.
Many years of experience, extensive technical knowledge and an enthusiasm for the medium together with a creative approach has resulted in a varied and fascinating portfolio/body of work.
I develop images in my mind before transferring them onto the front and back of the glass in a simultaneous application and firing process which I initiated, and have researched and developed of the past ten years. The alchemy between the glass and the metallic colour, which is permanently fired into it, is subtly assisted by the texturing of the glass. The result generally evokes a response in the viewer, as their perspective changes while moving past the work. The colours appear to change in an interactive manner, from reflective to transparent. I endeavour to create a fascination or intrigue for the viewer on their first experience with a work, to hold their attention and cause them to look deeper into the glass and appreciate the laying of the detail once they have seen the initial graphic. In this way, I hope my panels will continue to give pleasure over a long time.

Jin Powell

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:09:01 +0000

Jin Powell creates beautifully emotional figures.
Through casting and fabrication, each of this artist’s sculptures is unique and represents, as Verve states, “a raw, pivotal emotion”. Jin explains that when people purchase a piece from her they say the figure was calling to them and after seeing it, they couldn’t be without it. Every detail is intentional and conveys the movement of the emotion. There exists in these works the joyous feeling of pure abandon. Jin captures movement and grace through the modeled fabric that isn’t quite keeping up with the figure. Each sculpture is a “snap shot in time”.
Vivid blues, splashed with scarlets and yellows accented with oranges create feelings of celebration. Like sunrises and sunsets, the vibrancy of color enhances the feelings elicited by each piece. Jin’s work has been called “thought provoking and beautiful”, we agree.

Rudy van der Pol

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:07:53 +0000

Rudy Van der Pol was born in Christchurch in 1958, to Dutch parents, both of whom were artists.
His formal art training involved a series of courses at Auckland Technical Institute, in Jewelry Making, Graphics and Illustration, Photography and Landscape Design. He has also had experience in bronze casting and etching.
Rudy currently works with a multitude of media, employing decoupage techniques, collage, specialised paint finishes, metallised effects and patinas, along with sculpted metal, and found objects. His work challenges our perceptions, is often humourous and ambiguous, he integrates media in unusual and exciting ways with the skill of an alchemist.
Recycled materials are often used although the context is altered giving them a new meaning. He uses wrapping and pleating as a rhythmic expression to create textural overlays on the sculptural form. Van der Pol explains, “often materials are rendered unrecognizable with the surface use of pigments and patinas in order to challenge perceptions”.
Ultimately, Van der Pol concerns himself with form and process in his art. A piece may be representational as with the boat form, referencing his own personal history but, also may be experienced as a cross-cultural historic emblem. This artist also finds inspiration in nature, and frequently his forms border on abstraction, leaving space for a more personal response by the viewer.

Kathy Ross

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:06:35 +0000

Einstein claimed that the most important thing you have to decide is whether or not the universe is a friendly place. Well? Chickadees, roses, summer? But then, barbed wire, cancer, jail? We see one side or the other. But really, it’s both, side by side. It’s light and shadow. It’s funny and serious. It’s open and secret. It’s war and peace.
When Ross discusses her Storyteller Series she quotes Isak Dinesen, “All sorrows can be borne if you put them in a story or tell a story about them.” The little figures (often dolls) in the Storytellers’ pockets hear the stories, are the stories. The stories are always part of the storyteller, like art is always part of the artist, like we are all always part of the world, reflects Ross.
The World Traveler reflects the artist’s lifelong globe passion.” especially when I think how I hugged my globe when I was a kid, and put it on top of the pile of what I’d save in case of fire” says she. Kathy still loves the wonderful roundness of a globe. She “cuts out the continents not just to distinguish it from a basketball, but to use the globe as a vehicle for those contradictory things about life in the world. Negative/positive. Connected/separated. Inside/outside‘.

Audrey Rudnick

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:04:37 +0000

Well known artist and sculptress, Audrey Rudnick, was born in Durban and educated in Zambia, Durban and later attended the Johannesburg School of Art, Ballet, Drama and Music. The South African always knew she wanted to be an artist and had always painted, even though she long resisted describing herself as an artist. Still, her undeniable talent was noticed from an early age.
After finishing school at 17, Audrey travelled through Europe for six years, painting and sketching. She also spent some time in Sri Lanka designing and making batiks, but it was while she was spending time in Paris that she was inspired to sculpt and then to combine the mediums of painting and sculpture. It happened when Audrey went into a florist and saw a large palm pod lying to one side. ‘I knew there was something there. When I turned it upside down, I could see it.’
Her unique design of the “pod people” is created from resin and wood and flows into a palm pod to round off the elegant looking sculptures.
“I mainly paint and sculpture women because I think they are beautiful and frankly, I find pleasing to work with. Women have lovely curves and seem to combine both softness and strength, qualities I love to portray in my work”, Audrey says.

Justin Culina

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:03:48 +0000

Born in Anacortes, Washington this 28 year old has long been drawn to art and the natural world. These factors are reflected in the fluidity and suspension of movement that is so prevalent in glass design and distinguishes Justiin’s blown glass pieces.
Culina, now a New Zealander, studied glass in Wanganui in 2002, after which he worked alongside many New Zealand and international glass artists. Clearly committed for a lifetime now, he has progressed to the development of his Whangarei based hot glass studio.
In his own words, Justin is “…continually fascinated and inspired by the way natural minerals react with one another in the presence of extreme heat and pressure. The incredible patterns in aquatic and botanical life around the world make working with glass an inspirational and rewarding journey”.

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admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:15:48 +0000

Vimeo link

Chris van Doren

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:29:10 +0000

Born of a Niuean mother and a Dutch father, Chris van Doren grew up in and around Waiuku. He gained his trades certificate in panelbeating.
Today the former panelbeater works full time at his art practice and his sculptural works have been greatly admired by a wide audience.
Chris’s copper and steel sculptures are navigational studies that investigate the idea of movement and in doing so he makes reference to the ancient seafarers in the Pacific. The pieces also investigate Chris’s movements in the present time.

Tina Cooper

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:07:43 +0000

One of the leading figures in Australian Studio glass, Tina uses nature – Earth, Fire, Water and Air to create her art, reflecting her passionate relationship with the environment from which she sources her inspiration.
Each sculpture is precise in it’s execution. Ensuring the perfect piece requires Tina to “dance with fire”, orchestrating five highly skilled artisans to work in unison to provide hot pieces of glass for her to create her magic.
Each piece is individually hand-made from liquid currents of molten glass drawn from a 1200c furnace and then fused, layered and placed around a vessel.
The “Sea Life” and “Enchanted Forest” series are full of floral and aquatic allusions inspired by the Great Barrier Reef and the beaches of the Sunshine Coats of Queensland, Australia.
Tina continues to create new series for exhibitions or spontaneously , while working in the studio.
It is Tina’s ability to impart and leave with the observer her deeply felt responses to Mother Nature, Life, Love,and Grief.
Tina Coopers creations are highly sought after and can be found in collections the world over, including Japan and the U.S.A.