Who said being an artist is glamorous?
An exhibition of glass and photography opens at The Drawing Room, in the Carlina Goffe Gallery at the end of May. The Drawing Rooms’ inaugural exhibition, ‘Who said being an artist is glamorous?’ is designed to provide an insight into working with glass – documenting the process of two local artists as they work.
An exhibition of glass and photography opens at The Drawing Room, in the Carlina Goffe Gallery at the end of May. The Drawing Rooms’ inaugural exhibition, ‘Who said being an artist is glamorous?’ is designed to provide an insight into working with glass – documenting the process of two local artists as they work.
A collaboration between photographer Salvador Schwieters and glass artists Fiona Rennie-Schwieters and Isla Osborne, the exhibition is a thoughtful introduction to the art and science of glass.
Opening on Tuesday May 25th and running through to June 6th, ‘Who said being an artist is glamorous?’ juxtaposes sensitive photography with delicate and magical glass paintings, sculpture and jewellery.
Salvador’s beautiful and insightful photographs show the artists in an entirely new light. They are relentless in their detail, observing not only the artists’ studios but also their process of making.
Auckland artist Fiona Rennie-Schwieters has been working with cast glass from her Grey Lynn studio since 2005. Her inspiration comes from a love and respect of the natural world. Fiona takes casts from fruits, flowers and seedpods then rearranges them to create new forms evoking underwater and alien worlds. The technique of casting glass engages her. She says “I’m in love with the alchemy of glass.” To create her sculptures, Fiona uses at least seven processes. She works with warm wax, plaster and glass; boiling, pouring, fettling, spruing, mould-making, steaming, filling, firing, cooling, releasing from the mould and finally grinding. “There is risk at every stage, it keeps you on your toes. The result is often awesome, sometimes not.”
Isla Osborne, also a Grey Lynn artist, works in both fused and lampworked glass. Her jewellery is organic and earthy, using a torch to combine precious metals and molten glass, she creates beads that look as if they belong in an archeological dig rather than an art gallery.
In her paintings, Isla mixes powdered glass into paint and fuses it in her kiln. Her work ‘Pieces of you’ is an installation fused glass portraits. Isla says “I recently discovered a box of old family photos and became interested, not only in visual similarities between generations, but the genetic continuity on which these are based.”
Who said being an artist is glamorous?
May 24 – June 6
The Drawing Room, Carlina Goffe Gallery, 598 Great North Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Opening: Tuesday May 25th from 6pm