from AVID Gallery exhibition FUSION, February 2019
… ‘waitematā’ is the fourth collaborative work between glass artists Ann Robinson and Elizabeth McClure. It is a conversation in glass, combining McClure’s intuitive response with Robinson’s strong vessel form and evocative colour. The pattern reflects both Robinson’s reverence of the natural world and McClure’s love of detail.
Waitematā - the harbour that takes us to the sea beyond Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland.
There are several translations of waitematā of which ‘obsidian waters’, is the truest, though it is the more common ‘sparkling waters’, which (although incorrect in its literal translation), appealed as a more poetic representation of the image of the harbour waters as they come to mind, and as we know and experience them.
The exquisite pale steel blue vessel Ann Robinson has designed and cast in glass, presents the essence, depth and moody colour of that ‘wai’ or water. Elizabeth McClure’s surface engraving and the air within, capture the ever-changing play of light on and under the surface of the water.
POA