profile
After 25 years combining a law practice in Auckland City with raising three children, Jenny is now working full-time as a cast glass artist from her studio in Auckland.

Jenny draws inspiration from the textures in our environment. Abstracted patterns of nature are translated into glass to convey a sense of timeless strength.

In her series titled 'Silk Road: Patterns of Time', textures, folds and colours of silk are translated into glass to evoke the textures and patterns in our environment, and to convey the timeless nature of these ever-recurring patterns and the sense of inevitability they evoke.

Jenny has recently developed a new series - her Totem series. The first of these pieces is her 1.6 metre Totem Tower developed for NZ Sculpture OnShore in 2006. She has now developed taller works (2.1 metres) for her solo exhibition at Milford Galleries Queenstown. In her Totem series, iconic patterns evocative of our landscape are cast into glass, conveying a sense of history and a sense of place.

Jenny has exhibited in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, London and Paris. In 2006, Jenny's work was exhibited at both Art London, and SOFA Chicago. She has been selected by a British curator for inclusion in a book titled "50 Distinguished Contemporary Artists in Glass". Jenny has twice been a finalist in the prestigious Australian Ranamok Glass Prize, and she has twice in succession won the People's Choice Prize at NZSAG Members' Exhibitions.

awards
Jul 2007 Finalist in Ranamok Glass prize
Mar 2006 People's Choice award, NZSAG Members' Exhibition, Auckland
Jul 2005 Finalist in Ranamok Glass prize
Sep 2004 Honourable mention, 'Blown away - new forms in glass', juried online exhibition, www.postpicasso.com
Jan 2004 People's Choice award, NZSAG Members' Exhibition, Wanganui

public commissions
Apr 2007 Mayor of Auckland's Community Safety Awards 2007

publications
Aug 2007 Ranamok Glass Prize catalogue
Late 2006 '50 Distinguished Contemporary Artists in Glass', IL Publishers, London
Feb 2006 National Business Review, 10/2/06. Critics' Choice column. Material Matters Exhibition
Sep 2005 Canberra Times, 5 September, p8, Ranamok Glass Prize
Aug 2005 Ranamok Glass Prize catalogue
May 2005 Video on selected New Zealand glass artists, presented at GAS conference, Adelaide, South Australia
Sep 2004 Juror's statement. 'Blown away - new forms in glass', juried online exhibition
Feb 2004 NZ Herald 25/2/04, pB7. Art Guide. Translucence Exhibition

recent exhibitions
Aug 2007 Ranamok Glass Prize Exhibition, touring Australia Aug 07 to Jul 08
May 2007 New Glass: Totem Towers, solo exhibition, Milford Galleries Queenstown
Jan 2007 Palm Beach Art + Design, Florida (with Thomas Riley Galleries, Cleveland, Ohio)
Nov 2006 NZ Sculpture OnShore, Devonport, Auckland
Apr 2006 "Wind and Waves - Beyond the Vessel", 2-person exhibition Luniverre Gallery, Paris, France
Mar 2006 "Encore - 06", Glass Artists' Gallery, Sydney
Feb 2006 "Material Matters", 2 person exhibition, Masterworks Gallery, Ponsonby, Auckland
Dec 2005 "Twelve", Masterworks Gallery - Viaduct, Auckland
Aug 2005 Ranamok Glass Prize Exhibition, touring Australia Aug 05 to Sep 06
Jul 2005 New Zealand Glass Survey, Masterworks Gallery - Viaduct, Auckland
Jul 2005 Global Art Venue, Australian and New Zealand Glass Exhibition, Seattle, USA

contacts
jenny smith
tel. +64 9 378 6304
mob. +64 27 248 4340
email jenny

 

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Silk Road: Patterns of Time Series by Jenny Smith
Totem Tower series by Jenny Smith