Open Studio | Franklin Arts Trail 2024
My studio will be open on Labour weekend to welcome all art lovers on the Franklin Arts Trail 2024.
Come and have a chat and see what I get up to in my home studio located by the Taihiki River. (location no.12 on the map) 7 Orawahi Road | Glenbrook.
Find my Artist Profile on the Franklin Arts Trail website.
Franklin Arts Trail 2024 | Sat 25, Sun 26 & Mon 27 October | 10am - 4pm
Artists Interview | Resurfacing Exhibition 2024
Image shot by Liz Clarkson Photo
Artist Interview courtesy Public Record
1.What’s your favourite aspect of working with cast glass? And what do you find to be the most challenging part of the casting process?
I enjoy the wax stage and constructing, using repetition. Working with wax is very meditative, this is where I can be playful. Once I've made something I'm happy with, I move onto solving how I will cast the piece. I rely on master moulds to make replicas of objects (usually in plaster) for my wax forms, either found objects or made myself. My work alternates from very complex to minimal. My complex work can be very time consuming including mould preparation, adding runners the feeds so the molten glass can flow. Sometimes I leave a piece for a while before moulding up and making a refractory mould, to think about the right method. Glass is not very forgiving, if you make a mistake during the process you'll know about it later.
Waiting on a kiln firing is usually a time of anxiety. My firings are at least 5 days (most of this is annealing and waiting for the kiln to cool to room temperature). I've spoken to other glass artists who feel the same and they have years of experience in their practice. I don't think this feeling will ever go away. Watching the kiln temperature like a hawk, I use an app on my phone so I can see what the temperature is doing. Waiting to see your successful work in glass after such a long process is a great feeling, breaking open my moulds to see the glass, I’m happy. I've had some unlucky disasters in the kiln, I'm always learning. Then it's onto the finishing; removing feeds, grinding/polishing, so the process continues and hope nothing breaks.
2.Is there a particular element of this series that has evolved over time, connecting it with your previous works?
The sphere form has been used in previous mixed media works, ceramic and glass works, my mobiles, and sculpture with complex structures. My hanging mobiles began a while back, initially looking at balance but also as a way of recycling the glass, using old reservoirs or glass pieces that were unsuccessful from previous firings. I don't like waste and glass is so expensive. It's interesting to see how it reacts each time I fire it, sometimes it goes cloudy and it changes when mixing colourways. This new work I focused on simplifying, editing, keeping the forms minimal so that I could focus on glass flow. I have included some recycled glass in some of these new pieces and I've begun using the copper outer wire from the guitar strings I repurpose in my mobiles into these new wax forms, which are now embedded in the glass. I want to continue to push this further into new works.
3.In what ways does your glass art stand apart from traditional glass work?
I think about the structure of my pieces and how my work can make an impact that doesn't require as much glass. This could be colourways, or how I construct a wax for larger works. I’m not really interested in making monolithic work; although this could change in the future. This also helps when firing work as the bigger (or thicker) the work, the longer the annealing in the kiln. Lately I’m thinking a lot more about how the glass is installed and viewed. I find it fun having multiple ways of viewing works, interchangeable sculpture. You still have to be careful though and remember it’s glass you're dealing with!
I think sustainability has a lot to play in my studio practice, not being wasteful with materials, remembering where the material comes from. I enjoy making abstract conceptual work that allows the viewer time to think and appreciate it themselves, my intricate works ask the viewer to look more closely.
I'm looking at the glass surface quality. I'm not interested in a high polish, or so many translucent surfaces, most of my intricate work won't allow for this. On these new works (tiny lines) we call this flashing or veiling that has occurred on the glass surface from the moulds moving and shifting slightly during the firing. This is where the moulds have been under stress from expansion and contraction. I have left these marks on the surface, as I feel they add to the work. These are marks I would often remove by grinding back, so I am looking at my work in a different way.
4.What types of glass materials do you prefer to use and why?
I use Gaffer casting crystal, it has a high lead content around 40 - 45% which makes it a heavy glass but has a brilliant melting quality. It flows into complex areas when casting that other glasses won’t reach. I fire my refractory moulds to just over 800c, other glasses have a higher top melting temperature which require more durable moulds so they don't break in the kiln.
Gaffer is also softer to cold work, by cold working I mean all the finishing after the work comes out of the kiln, cutting, grinding / polishing. I’ve used other glasses but I always come back to Gaffer. I started using it as a student at University, and I always recommend it to my students depending on what they are casting.
5.How do you find the balance between artistic expression and the technical challenges of working with glass?
My kiln size can be limiting but I have hired kiln space from friends for larger works in the past. Because of the expense of glass making using casting glass, and the raw materials to make refractory moulds I think about the visual impact of making smaller to medium works, or connecting the glass to other materials. Sometimes ideas come that I want to explore but I park them for a while before I start the challenges of making.
6.Sustaining a commitment to your art requires both time and perseverance. How do you maintain your creative momentum and stay focused on your practice?
I enjoy working in series, as it allows time for developing ideas and seeking new ways of working. It's all a balance, like this new work. Sometimes I take a break from glass and work in clay, working on the wheel to make functional production work. I think it's important to take a step back from my work.
I read some philosophy for my creative practice too, often I question why I am making it. I've recently finished The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. This show Resurfacing with Susan concerns life's challenges, my mum recently recommended Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, it's very old fashioned but has some meditations for various stages of our lives.
7.Winning the EAA17 Estuary Art & Ecology Award in 2023, presented by artist and judge Benjamin Work at Malcolm Smith Gallery, must have been a significant milestone. How has this prestigious accolade influenced your artistic journey and practice since then?
I was humbled to receive the contemporary art award. I was very thankful to Benjamin Work for selecting my glass and for my work to be recognised. Any award money is very greatly received too as I put it back into my glass making practice to purchase materials, and glass to make more art glass.
8.During your time as a technician at Elam in 2022, how did you find the environment at this renowned New Zealand institution? How does the current art scene in Aotearoa compare to what you've experienced in the UK?
Learning and teaching in a creative environment is always a good experience. At Elam School of Fine Arts there was a greater crossover in exchange of cultures which I enjoyed. I met some wonderful people who are artists in their own right. It's nurturing, passing skills and knowledge onto other artists who are curious and want to push their ideas.
The workshops on the glass course I taught at Falmouth University in the UK were nearly brand new and had facilities solely dedicated to glass and ceramic practices. Sadly this course has closed like so many other higher education art courses.
There are possibly more opportunities for showing glass, and glass making in the UK and Europe, with lots more facilities. Although this is changing, so many courses and schools are closing. I'm still on the AJ Poole newsletter mailing list for all things UK glass related, AJ Poole is very supportive of anyone living internationally and includes our NZ exhibitions in the monthly list.
The art and glass scene in NZ is much smaller then the UK but has some admirable glass makers, I’ve made some good glass friends here. There's a greater push here to get funding for the glass community to show work, unlike ceramics which already has established annual awarded exhibitions. NZSAG are very supportive of the glass making community. There's lots of glass activity in Whanganui, including education at UCOL. There's a glass conference planned for next year 2025, which involves international speakers and workshops.
May all this continue!
Resurfacing | Public Record
Resurfacing is an exhibition of contemporary paintings and cast glass by Auckland based artists Susan Thomas and Lisa Bate.
Public Record, 82 Ponsonby Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland
22 August - 8 September
Opening event Thursday 22 August 6 - 8 pm
Image Shot Liz Clarkson & Courtesy of Public Record
Artist Statement
These glass sculptures are themed around emotional changes and finding the balance in what we can or cannot control. The body of work explores glass as a material and how it melts and flows. The cast glass columns were made using the lost wax technique, creating balanced sculptural forms that expose internally how the glass reacted to heat when fluid.
The transition in colour variation when you look through the glass is intentional, to appear as though something is shifting and trying to resurface. This is a play on our emotions, or suppressed emotions. I continue to use the sphere form which represents cyclical change and have returned to the use of repetition within my work to produce the simplified, balanced glass structures. The sphere form functions as a vessel which contains the glass, to observe the state of glass flow.
My making process concentrated on directing the glass at its entry point into the moulds when firing. This has been achieved by specific placement of the raw glass before the firing and using multiple feeds on the horizontal and vertical forms. There are rules to follow when casting glass but there's also uncontrollable chances that occur from a lack of complete control during the kiln firing. I’m intrigued by what is hidden until the glass is revealed from the mould.
“You can’t step into the same stream twice because it’s always flowing. Everything is.” The Creative Act - Rick Rubin
NZSAG Online Members' Exhibition 2024
View works by some of New Zealand's leading contemporary glass artists nzsag.com
Open Studio | Franklin Arts Trail 2023
The Franklin Arts Trail | Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 October | 10 - 4
7 Orawahi Rd - Glenbrook - Auckland
I'll be opening my studio door this year to welcome art enthusiasts, as part of the Franklin Arts Trail. Viewable in the studio will be mixed media glass sculptural works, works in progress and a few works for sale. Come and find out about some of the processes involved in making my work.
View the Franklin Arts Trail 2023 artists and download the map here
// Cash or bank transfer available