Flotsam and Jetsam is an installation of broken glass bottles, their surfaces printed with iconic images from family summers at our west coast batch. Each piece of glass has been tumbled to resemble ‘sea glass’ then printed using photographic emulsion.

Flotsam and Jetsam is an attempt to evoke ideas of home and family when confronted with the reality of returning to New Zealand. After living and working in London for ten years, I found that coming home was not just a geographic shift, a return to my own place of childhood and remembrance. It became more the task of trying to create new idyllic childhood memories for my children, with reference to my own… long, hot summers spent wandering along the beach, the smell of freshly mown grass, catching cockabillies in our stream…

At the beach we used to collect soft pieces of ceramic and sea glass treasure, but as an adult I view them differently. To me they are a symbol of our willingness to ignore our impact on the environment. After a lifetime of working in advertising, I find it difficult to reconcile the myth of a ‘clean, green Aotearoa’ with the evidence before me. I remain inspired however by the way the water takes these discarded objects and remakes them into things of beauty.

An exhibition of glass jewellery and sculpture opens at The Depot Artspace, Devonport, in October. The New Zealand Glass Bead Artists (NZGBA) annual exhibition, Lucent, explores the use of translucent and transparent studio glass, presenting an exciting snapshot of current practice by both established and emerging glass artists.

Lucent explores the physical properties of glass and light through beads, jewellery and sculpture.

On the back wall of the Main Gallery is Metamorphosis, a collaborative artwork, constructed from almost 400 lampworked glass butterflies. Symbols of peace, hope and transformation, the butterflies float along the wall moving gently with the air currents. Metamorphosis will be donated to The Child Cancer Foundation and auctioned off, with all proceeds supporting the Beads of Courage programme in New Zealand.

Alongside the exhibition, the NZGBA are running a second community project, planting unique, handmade glass beads around Devonport. Release a Bead is a global project, with the aim sharing the joy of beadmaking. Over the course of the exhibition, we will be releasing almost 100 beads into the wild, wonderful surprises for people to find in the most unexpected places.

‘Lucent’ Runs from October 16th through to October 28th in the Main Gallery at The Depot Artspace in Devonport. For more information, please visit www.nzgba.org.nz

Metamorphosis is a collaborative artwork, constructed from almost 400 lampworked glass butterflies. Symbols of peace, hope and transformation, the butterflies float along a wall moving gently with the air currents in their environment.

The artwork will be donated to The Child Cancer Foundation and auctioned off, with all proceeds going to support the Beads of Courage program in New Zealand.

Beads of Courage is designed to support and strengthen the protective resources in children coping with serious illness. Through the program, children tell their story using colourful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones achieved along their unique treatment path.

The New Zealand Glass Bead Artists donate one of a kind, handmade beads to the programme including purple hearts to represent the end of treatment and butterfly beads that are given to every parent who has experienced the loss of their child.

Every bead tells a story of strength, honour and hope.

I have been paired with an amazing poet, Miriam Barr who wrote a great poem for a series of seven navigational stick charts I have made.

All these pathways we carry with us is a series of glass wall sculptures influenced by pacific navigational charts. These beautiful objects were made from sticks, bound together in geometric patterns that depicted sea currents. Instead of representing topography, these charts mapped a journey through ever-changing ocean swells.

Pacific peoples navigated their canoes with sophisticated charts using the seas and skies to guide them, and the knowledge of how to do this was passed down from generation to generation. If the ebb and flow of a journey can be mapped, and knowledge of how to navigate passed down through a family, how can I teach my children to navigate our increasingly complex society?

all these pathways we carry with us

we are scattered
across the oceans
in constellations

wherever we touch
the current changes

we build patterns
to track these vast expanses
a map of ebb & swell

the intersections are
where the islands are

these are the
shifting places
where we can
rest together

we have voyaged here
to be where we are

this is a mantra
for safety i made
for you

a rising star
doesn’t go straight
up from the horizon

sometimes we
find ourselves
in the knotted places

For more details about Metonymy, click here.

Sarah is a student of contemporary jewellery and is lucky enough to have the wonderful Peter Deckers as a mentor and teacher. I first met Peter when I was invited to submit work to handSTAND, an exhibition of contemporary New Zealand Jewellery in 2009. I have been impressed by his care and commitment ever since. But behind every great man there is a supportive woman, in this case his wife Hilda.

Sarah’s project is an extravagant gesture of thanks to Hilda for her support of contemporary NZ jewellers over the last 25 years. She has organised the donation of pieces from a huge group of jewellers and presented the collection to her last week. How wonderful is that?

Below are a few pics from the presentation.

If you are in Dunedin, please drop in to see Pocket Rocket, a large multi-disciplinary group exhibition. Peter Viesnik, Lisa-Jane Harvey and I will all have work in the show. I am submitting some of my fused glass panels, one of which is shown on the bottom left of the invitation.

Neighborhood Watch is a 180mm square framed illustration made from fused glass and copper wire.

Check out my new work for the New Zealand Jewellery Show. It’s called Garden of Earthly Delights and was really well received. I have created off-mandrel glass implosion beads then fused them together in square clusters before grinding and polishing.

I Heart Grey Lynn
This new initiative would see local artists creating original artworks in the windows of shops across the suburb – from butchers to book shops. It is envisaged that this showcase of site-specific artwork would include both emerging and established artists, and would help establish Grey Lynn as Auckland’s creative centre.

The Exhibitions
Each shop would be teamed with an artist who would be responsible for curating a show of their work, then returning the space to its original condition.

Publicity
A viral marketing campaign of ‘clean’ graffiti (using a water-blaster to wash our message onto pavements) will be combined with PR to draw attention to the event.

Expressions of Interest
I am asking for expressions of interest from shop owners to assess the viability of the project. If this is something you would like to be involved in, please let me know. I will pop around to introduce myself in the next few weeks and can answer any questions that you might have about the project.

Isla Osborne
For more information, please contact Isla Osborne on 021 027 22005,
or at isla.osborne@gmail.com or visit www.greylynn2030.co.nz