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Artist Statement

" I love working with glass and all its inherent qualities. I use hot formed glass as my starting point and use a number of cold working techniques to carve and mark most of my glass. The marks imbue the surface of these forms with a human referent, a link with the past. My current work continues the theme of object as signifier of time/history and place. I love the texture and tactile values of the cut surface. Apart from the interesting optical qualities that are set up, and the obvious links with a glass history, the marks imbue the surface of these forms with a human referent, a link with the past.
The "Vessel Landscape Series" proposes the intersection of geography and my own family history landscape as archive. Each piece in this series is inscribed with extracts from letters written by several of my forebears. For example Mary Ann Hodgkinson, my Great Great Great Grandmother describes emigrating to and settling in the Nelson area of New Zealand in the 1840's. These notions provide for a personal mythology, a genius loci or spirit of place.

Battuto Vessels

These Battuto vessels have been free blown using "hot glass" techniques. Once cooled, the vessel surfaces are hand ground/faceted using diamond wheels. Similar surface treatment was employed by Roman glass makers. Italian glass makers, using this technique in the 1940's, coined the term Battuto for its similarity to beaten silver. I love the optical and tactile possibilities this technique presents.

Vessel Landscape Series

The "Vessel Landscape" series proposes the intersection of geography and my own family history, landscapes as archive. The pieces in this body of work have been extensively ground and carved like stone. The marks that have been left by the making refer to an earlier history. The texts inscribed on the pieces in this series are extracts from a letter written by Mary Ann Hodgkinson, my Great Great Great Grandmother. Her letter recalls emigrating to New Zealand from England and settling in Wakefield, just out of Nelson, in the 1840's.
She describes events such as the surveyors who passed their door looking for land and mapping the interior, the Wairau Incident and the discovery of gold in the Whangapeka. These notions of time, place and memory provide for more than just a physical description of landscape, but also an internal landscape or personal sense of identity.