Overlooked taonga

I’m delighted to have four new glass sculptures included in this year’s Baradene Art Show. 

Over the past few years, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn to the small, often overlooked details of our coastal environments. From seaweed clinging to the shoreline to tiny plants growing in tidal wetlands, I’m fascinated by the quiet beauty of the species we pass by every day without really noticing.

These four works continue my exploration of natural forms through glass. Made one at a time using a blowtorch, each piece begins as molten glass and slowly takes shape through heat, gravity and breath. I love the connection between this process and the natural world: both are shaped by forces that are subtle, yet transformative.

The first piece is inspired by Neptune’s Necklace, a common seaweed found along New Zealand’s coastline. Its chains of air-filled bladders help it float with the changing tides, and I’ve always been fascinated by the similarity between these delicate structures and my own process of creating hollow forms in glass.

The other three explore glasswort, a remarkable plant that grows in our coastal wetlands. With its segmented, succulent stems, glasswort has a beautifully sculptural quality, but it is also part of a much larger and more fragile ecosystem. One work focuses closely on the plant itself, while the other two expand the view, placing the glasswort within a suggested wetland environment.

I’m interested in the idea of the specimen: the way natural history collections encourage us to slow down and look closely at individual species. My work is inspired in part by the incredible glass botanical models created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the nineteenth century, which captured the delicate details of plants and marine life with extraordinary skill.

Although these sculptures are made from glass, they are really about paying attention. They are small reminders of the beauty that exists all around us, especially in the places and species that are easy to overlook.

I’m looking forward to sharing these works at the Baradene Art Show alongside a wonderful selection of artists. If you’re in Auckland, I’d love you to come and have a look.

Baradene Art Show: 28-30 August, 2006