ANN ROBINSON

ANN ROBINSON

Earth & Sky: New Forms

25 October - 19 November 2014 www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Milford Galleries Dunedin 18 Dowling Street (03) 477 7727 info@milfordhouse.co.nz

Unite Series #2 - Earth and Sky (Pale Aqua / Lagoon) (2014) cast glass, size (h x ø): 170 x 545 mm

1

Fern Vase (Spore) (2014) cast glass, size: 508 x 340 x 335 mm

2

Geometric Vase #8 (Dark Red) (2012) cast glass, size: 365 x 277 x 275 mm

3

4

Fern Vase (Capense) (2014) cast glass, size: 508 x 335 x 335 mm

Landscape Bowl (Yellow / Amber) (2014) cast glass, size: 420 x 452 x 260 mm

5

Unite Series #4 (Pale Lime / Jade) (2014) cast glass, size (h x ø): 155 x 550 mm

6

7

Flax Vase #10 (Pale Lime / Yellow) (2014) cast glass, size (h x ø): 595 x 170 mm

Ice Bowl #93 (Sapphire Rose) (2014) cast glass, size (h x ø): 207 x 370 mm

8

Fern Vase #3 (Dark Olive Green) (2014) cast glass, size: 522 x 340 x 340 mm

9

Unite Series #5 (Citrine / Chardonnay) (2014) cast glass, size (h x ø): 158 x 540 mm

10

Scallop Bowl #57 (Yellow / Amber) (2014) cast glass, size (h x ø): 250 x 385 mm

11

12

Curved Vase #2 (Semillon) (2014) cast glass, size: 533 x 340 x 345 mm

Acknowledged as one of the great glass artists of the world, Ann Robinson’s critical acclaim and prominence has been as much due to her ceaseless enquiry of form and materials as it has been her forging the symbolic and metaphorical language of her work in environmental concern, directly informed by the native flora and fauna of NZ. Earth and Sky contains two major new bodies of work, new forms and techniques. It is an exhibition of considerable significance.

The Unite Series is a triumphant declaration of imperious design and supremacy of form. The top and bottom of each work have been cast separately and then joined together. As a direct consequence of this new technique Robinson has been able to explore and harness the role of the enclosed returning space and surfaces in ways never before possible.

Unite Series #2 features two distinctly different colours – pale aqua and lagoon green – separated by a clear glass insert. This extraordinary, very beautiful bowl, with a narrow outer lip and a rim foot, has a soft sensuous presence where the colours seemingly blur in space, as if hovering just beyond the surface.

Unite Series #4 features two chromatically linked colours – pale lime and pale jade. Interposed between is a rolled rim insert of clear glass, the slightly proud edge of which glistens and shines. There are four tonally different banded circles moving from the centre outward. Optical rhythms are built by the differing glass mass. In some viewing positions, a constituent yellow appears as a thin circle line at the juncture of the altering densities.

Unite Series #5 also combines two linked colours – citrine and chardonnay.

The base is rich, strongly suggestive of soil or clay pigment. The work is noticeably more grounded by this but the top is also markedly different, somewhat drier in character. There is an ambiguous role performed by light in these colours – seemingly trapped and contained but sharply defined and illuminating from within.

Fern Vase # 3 has distinctly different sides. The surface of each leaf has been brightly polished, the form abstracted and raised above the combed surface of the vase. The result is remarkable – spatial depth is suggested through the leaves but denied elsewhere by the vase itself.

Fern Vase (Spore) also dark olive green is assertively naturalistic with the polished fern leaves presented as a branch raised off the surface and rising up the slowly flaring form of the vase.

The pale yellow and pale green Fern Vase (Capense) has been completely acid-etched and as a result light is trapped inside the vase by the seemingly dulled surface. This fine figurative work is strongly suggestive of the modulating light glimpsed in a garden and the complex sensations experienced in the light at the bush edge.

The classic Robinson Ice Bowl # 93 features for the first time the soft delicacies of saffire rose, a recessive, complex colour that seems to flux and wane.

This important exhibition also includes a superb semillon Curved Vase, two signature works - the replete, pale lime and yellow Flax Vase #10 and the resolute yellow amber Landscape Bowl – and is completed with a rich dark red Geometric Vase. This is an exceptional expressive work that builds a powerful sensation of infinity, where the role of glass mass has been elevated and determines what we see and how we see it.

ANN ROBINSON b. 1944, lives Auckland

Fern Vase 2 (2014)

Ann Robinson is an internationally significant glass artist and an acclaimed innovator who has been at the forefront of the extraordinary achievement of New Zealand glass.

Robinson’s cast glass pieces have a commanding presence. She gathers inspiration from her natural environment incorporating the particular colours and shapes of native flora into her work.

“The Power of Ann Robinson’s work comes from its bold simplicity, its vivid colouring, its controlled forms. She admits to being seduced by the material itself and declares her aim is ‘to make stunning things in glass’.” (1) Her environmental idiom and examinations of the natural world have established the devotional forms and subject of her work. There is a powerful sense of place, an undeniable presence of the artist’s point of view - art with a purpose and something to say.

Ann Robinson was born in 1944 and lives in Auckland. She has achieved major national and international recognition for her accomplishments in glass. Robinson was awarded the American Glass Society’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2006 and an Arts Laureate by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand in 2004. Recipient 2002 John Britten Award for contribution to New Zealand design. Awarded New Zealand Order of Merit 2001. Robinson is represented in public collections such as Corning Museum (USA), Victoria and Albert Museum (UK) National Gallery of Victoria, (Australia), Stradtmuseum (Germany), Auckland Museum and Te Papa.

1. Dan Klein, Artists in Glass: Late Twentieth Century Masters in Glass, Mitchell Beazley, Great Britain, 2001

Ann Robinson 2014 CV P a g e |1

Milford

Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

ANN ROBINSON b. 1944, lives Auckland EDUCATION 1980

DipFA, University of Auckland

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 2013 2012 2010 2009 2008 2006 2005 2002-03 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1995 1994

1993 1992 1984

Earth & Sky, Milford Galleries Dunedin BRIM, FHE Galleries, Auckland Capital, Page Blackie Gallery The Thick and Thin of It, milford galleries queenstown Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown Abundance, FHE Galleries, Auckland Celebrating the Recession, Milford Galleries Dunedin Divaricate, FHE Galleries, Auckland A Trans Tasman Sampler, Axia Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia Ann Robinson, R Duane Reed, ST Louis, Missouri, USA A Sombre Take, FHE G2 Galleries, Auckland Pacific Rim: Ann Robinson's Glass, Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington Ann Robinson: Light from New Zealand, Gallerie Jean Claude Chapellotte, Luxembourg Old Zeal: New Zeal, Axia Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia Adrift, Elliott Brown Gallery, Seattle, Washington, USA Ann Robinson, Casting Light: A Survey of Glass Castings 1981-1997, Dowse Art Museum Wellington and New Gallery, Auckland Tall Poppies, Lopdell House Gallery, Waitakere A Point in Time, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland Ann Robinson: A Survey, Elliott Brown Gallery, Seattle, Washington, USA Ann Robinson at Masterworks, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland Galerie L, Hamburg, Germany From Fantasy to Function V, Kurts Bingham Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee, USA Ann Robinson, Grand opening of Elliott Brown Gallery, Seattle, Washington, USA Masterworks Gallery, Parnell, Auckland Artisan Centre, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2006 2005

2003-04 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1997

Significant Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin The Review, milford galleries queenstown Chosen, milford galleries queenstown Traverse, Milford Galleries Dunedin Bloom, milford galleries queenstown Luminaries, Sabia Gallery, Sydney, Australia Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown 111, with Elizabeth McClure and Emily Siddell, FHE Galleries, Auckland Contemporary Glass, Group Show, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland Garden Varieties, with Bronwyn Cornish and Fran Allison, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland Axia Modern Art, Sydney, Australia Glass Invitational, Milford Galleries Dunedin, Milford Galleries Queenstown, travelling to Auckland Museum, Auckland, Pataka, Petone, and Canterbury Museums, Christchurch Southern Exposure, NZ Soc of Artists in Glass travelling exhibition to Ebeltof, Denmark.

Is As, Landscape as a Metaphor, Milford Galleries Dunedin Glass Invitational, Touring exhibition, Milford Galleries Dunedin Transparent Things, National Gallery of Australia in partnership with the Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, Australia Creativity and Collaboration, Pilchuck Glass School's 30 Years, Bumbershoot 2000 Seattle Centre, Seattle, Washington, USA New Zealand Glass, Axia Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia Inaugural Exhibition, John Elder Gallery, New York, USA

Ann Robinson 2014 CV P a g e |2

Milford

Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991 1990 1989-91 1988

1987 1986 1983 1982 1981

Art in Glass '97, Editions Gallery, Melbourne, Australia Ledbetter Lusk Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee, USA Elliott Brown Gallery, Seattle, WA (w/ Frantisek Vizner and Daniel Clayman) Introductions VII, Lisa Kurts Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee, USA Celia Kennedy Gallery, Queenstown Mastercast, Glass Artist Gallery, Sydney, Australia SOFA Miami Exposition, Elliott Brown Gallery, Seattle, Washington, USA The Vessel Aesthetic, Kavesh Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho, USA A Powerful Presence: Pilchuck Glass School’s 25 Years, Bumbershoot, Rainier Room at the Seattle Centre, Seattle, Washington, USA Breaking the Mold: New Kilnformed Glass, Heller Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, USA Glass from the Pacific Rim, Art Department Gallery, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA Parriott, Perkins and Robinson, Chicago International New Art Forms Exposition a Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, USA (Kate Elliott Contemporary Glass) Annual Pilchuck Exhibition, William Traver Gallery, Seattle, Washington, USA Pilchuck Glass Exhibition, SeaTac Airport, Seattle, Washington, USA Cribbs, Marioni and Robinson, Chicago International New Art Forms Exposition at Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, USA (Kate Elliott Contemporary Glass) Contemporary Kilnformed Glass, Contemporary Crafts Centre Portland, Oregon, USA Glass Now ‘92, Tokyo, Japan International Directions in Glass, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia Treasures of the Underworld, Seville, Spain The Executive Suite, Crafts Council Gallery, Wellington New Zealand Glass Review, Compendium Gallery, Auckland New Zealand Crafts Council, Wellington Australian Kilnformed Glass, touring the USA; Kurland/Summers Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Heller Gallery, New York; Habatat Gallery, Detroit, USA Australian Kilnformed Glass, Craft Council Gallery of ACT, Australia World Glass Now ‘88, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido, Japan Stones in Glass Houses, Villas Gallery, Wellington New Zealand Expo Exposition of Craft, Brisbane, Australia Winstone Biennale, Auckland Museum, Auckland Phillips Glass Exhibition, Auckland Museum, Auckland Sunbeam Glassworks, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, Wellington Glass ‘83, touring New Zealand Fragile Art, Northern Regional Crafts Council, touring New Zealand Glass ‘81, Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland

HONORS, AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, COMMISSIONS, APPOINTMENTS 2009 2006

Installed commissioned Font, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland Life Time Achievement Award by the Glass Arts Society of America 2006 Waitakere City Arts Laureate Award 2004 2004 Arts Laureate Awarded by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand 2003 Guest speaker Northlands Glass Conference of CGA 2002 Elected recipient of the D.I.N.Z. 'John Britten Award' for contribution to Design 2001 Awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. ( O.N.Z.M) Guest speaker Conference ‘Transparency in Glass’, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2000 Faculty; Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, USA 1996 Faculty; Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, USA 1991 Faculty; Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, USA “Treasures from the Underworld,” commission for New Zealand Expo Exhibition, Seville, Spain 1990, 92 93 Guest Faculty; Carrington Polytechnic, Auckland 1990, 92 Guest Faculty; Canberra School of Art, ACT, Australia 1987 Winstone Biennale Award 1986 Phillips Glass Award Travel Grant to USA, Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council 1984 Phillips Glass Award

Ann Robinson 2014 CV P a g e |3

Milford

Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

1983, 84, 91 Equipment Grant, Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council

COLLECTIONS Auckland Museum, Auckland Bellevue Public Library, Bellevue WA, USA Corning Museum of Glass, Corning NY, USA Dowse Gallery, Lower Hutt Irvin J. Borowsky, Philadelphia, PA Karen Johnson Boyd, Racine, Wisconsin Robert McDougal Gallery, Christchurch Microsoft Corp, Redmond, WA, USA National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

National Museum of New Zealand, Wellington Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia Stadtmuseum, Gottingen, Germany Saint Paul Companies, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.

SELECTED ARTICLES 2010 2008 2003 2001

Wood, D, Ann Robinson: Casting Mistress, Neues Glas, Spring 2010 (1/10),pp 32 - 39 Chappell, Dan, Defining Light and Space, Art News, Spring, pp 57-58 (attached) Simpson Peter (FOA ENG), An Act of Love, Art New Zealand Object Lessons, Original Art by Guild Artists, Beauty and Meaning in Art. Guild Publishing, Madison, U.S.A., pp 22 2001 Klein, Dan Artists In Glass: Late Twentieth Century Masters In Glass Mitchell Beazley Millers, Octopus Publishing Group, London, England, pp 197-198.

1999 In Review New Glass Review, Corning Museum of Glass,2/00, pp 104 - 111 1998 Edwards, Geoffrey Art Of Glass, Glass in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria pg 204 1998 Ann Robinson Casting Light: A Survey of Glass Castings 1981-1997, Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, New Zealand 1996 Wichert, Geoffrey, Glass, No 65, Winter, pp. 36-39 1994 Kangas, Matthew, Glass, No 55, Spring, pp 51 1996 Layton, Peter, Glass Art, pp. 64, (illus) pp 65.

1993 New Glass Review, Corning Museum of Glass, pp 92.

1993 Sapolin, Donna, Glass Conscienceness Departures, April/May 1993, pp 76-81, (illus) pp 78 1992 Contemporary Kilnformed Glass, Contemporary Crafts Association, Portland, Oregon; pp 64-65 1992/1 Shamroth, Helen, Glass Art in New Zealand Neues Glass Magazine, pp 40-46 1989 Klein, Dan, Glass: A Contemporary Art Rizzoli; pp 208 1989 Australia Kilnformed Glass; Australia Council for the Arts and Kurland/Summers Gallery; pp. 16-17 1988 World Glass Now '88, Hokkaido Museum, Japan 1988 Ioannou, Norris, Australian Studio Glass, pp 80-92

Twisted Flax Pods (2011-14)

Ann Robinson 2014 CV P a g e |4

Milford

Galleries Dunedin

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz