SUE HAWKER

4 - 29 May 2013

milford galleries queenstown9A Earl Street (03) 442 6896 [email protected]

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

SUEHAWKERA SingularOccasion

The Bride (2013)pate de verre glass, size: 535 x 380 x 320 mm1

He Does (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 535 x 195 mm2

Oma (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 475 x 270 mm3

In the Pink (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 425 x 235 mm4

Prayer Reader (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 430 x 240 mm5

Portrait of Celina (2012)pate de verre glass, size: 415 x 312 x 275 mm6

State of Grace (2012)pate de verre glass, size: 405 x 320 x 277 mm7

Likely Lads (Blue) (2013)pate de verre glass, size: 430 x 200 x 143 mm9Likely Lads (Red) (2013)

pate de verre glass, size: 490 x 245 x 140 mm8

Likely Lads (Blue) (2013)pate de verre glass, size: 430 x 200 x 143 mm

Likely Lads (Yellow) (2013)pate de verre glass, size: 450 x 200 x 140 mm10

Paranymph (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 460 x 190 mm11

Energy Contained (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 330 x 140 mm12

Living Figment (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 450 x 275 mm13

Social Butterfly (2013)pate de verre glass, size (v x ø): 103 x 147 mm14

With her latest exhibition A Singular Occasion, Sue Hawker continues to push

the boundaries of the pâte de verre technique. Hawker speaks of this suite of

works as ‘portraits’ based on actual people (1). She uses form and palette to

delineate individual characters and the interactions between them.

Hawker uses the visual traditions of a wedding to explore dialogues about the

role of family and of the dichotomy between male and female. Large, floral

vase forms in traditionally ‘feminine’ hues are cast as the female players in this

‘frozen’ theatre. The Bride evokes (through its very title) thoughts of tulle and

figured satin and Hawker plays on this with her use of massed blossom shapes

in translucent lemon to suggest the sweep of a veil and the train of a gown.

The drama of the form sets it apart from all other works while the repetition of

floral patterning and soft hue clearly links it to the other flower-bedecked

‘females’.

The new columnar forms are assigned masculine roles and an element of

phallocentrism can be read in their strongly defined shapes. The glittering

black and upright stance of the cylinders are reminiscent of sober suits and

the curved tops of the Likely Lads suggest an animated camaraderie as they

lean in to one another. The pops of primary colour Hawker has used in the

three works link them further, at the same time differentiating them from the

groom figure, He Does. Each of Hawker’s works plays its part in this stylised

ritual, their individual characters speaking to one another to create a unified

whole.

The works in A Singular Occasion reveal the breadth of Sue Hawker’s ability to

imagine a myriad of possibilities to be explored and her technical excellence

in a demanding medium enables her to turn these into realities.

1. Artist’s statement, 2013

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T

1 The Bride (2013) 6,500

2 He Does (2013) 6,000

3 Oma (2013) 6,500

4 In the Pink (2013) 5,750

5 Prayer Reader (2013) 5,750

6 Portrait of Celina (2012) 6,500

7 State of Grace (2012) 6,500

8 Likely Lads (Red) (2013) 3,750

9 Likely Lads (Blue) (2013) 3,500

10 Likely Lads (Yellow) (2013) 3,500

11 Paranymph (2013) 5,750

12 Energy Contained (2013) 2,000

13 Living Figment (2013) 6,500

14 Social Butterfly (2013) 495

Sue Hawker 2013 CV milford galleries queenstown www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

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SUE HAWKER b. 1948, lives Kerikeri

Connexions Group (2009/10)

"Glass is a mesmerising medium with its refractive, reflective and transparent qualities. I harness

these qualities when designing and creating my forms. In fact, I create art with light itself". (1)

Sue Hawker creates unique glass sculpture and has employed cast glass, etching and pâte

de verre techniques in her practice to date. “Pâte de verre is an exacting technique requiring

meticulous work and is often used to create fragile pieces. Sue’s piece, however, represents

quite a departure from traditional pâte de verre creations.” (2)

Her works are often composed of individual flowers or vines and are delivered with a

celebratory, colourist’s flourish. Visual contradictions abound – the suggestive fragility of the

pâte de verre style (its fragmentary, sand-grain quality) has been retained but this is an illusion,

for these works have considerable structural strength. The result is works of astonishing

complexity, quality and remarkable presence.

Hawker’s 2013 series, A Singular Occasion is a delicate series of portraits of guests at a

wedding celebration and the artist employs flower, vines, punga trunk and butterfly forms to

depict a variety of characters including The Bride, He Does, Oma, Social Butterfly, Paranymph,

Prayer Reader and The Likely Lads.

In 2011 Hawker received the Juror’s Choice award for the New Glass Review 32 at the Corning

Museum of Glass in New York and in 2010 she won the prestigious Ranamok Glass Awards with

her pâte de verre work Too Much Is Never Enough. She has been a finalist in a number of

other awards over the years including the Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards in 2010, 2009, 2008

& 2007, the Bombay Sapphire NZ Collection, 2007, finalist of the Wallace Art Awards in 2010

and a recipient of an Honourable Mention at the Mazda Art Glass Awards, 2007.

1. Artist Statement, 2010

2. Northtec, “Kerikeri Artist Wins Ranamok Glass Prize", The Big Idea/ Te Aria Nui, 2010


P a g e | 2

SUE HAWKER b. 1948, lives Kerikeri

EDUCATION

Selected papers, including glass sculpture, from the Bachelor of Applied Arts degree at NorthTec,

Kerikeri SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013 A Singular Occasion, milford galleries queenstown

2011 Florescentia, milford galleries queenstown

2008 I am….Pakeha, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2006 Woman, Pioneer Tavern, Kerikeri

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2013 Focus, Glass Artists Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Off the Wall, Waiheke Community Gallery, Waiheke Island

2012 30/30, Glass Artists Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Reboot, milford galleries queenstown

2011 Traverse, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Collect 2011, Saatchi Gallery, London (with Glass Artists’ Gallery), England

Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

Encore, Glass Artists’ Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2010 The Earl Street Journal, milford galleries queenstown

Bloom, milford galleries queenstown

Objec-tive, Waiheke Community Gallery

Ranamok Contemporary Glass, Touring Australia

Crush, Lane Gallery, Auckland

2009 Glass 09, milford galleries queenstown

Two, Gravel Gallery, Kerikeri

Te Iti Kahurangi, Waiheke Community Art Gallery

Ranamok Contemporary Glass, Touring Australia

Glass, Whakatane District Museum, Whakatane

New Zealand Showcase, Hong Kong Art Centre, Hong Kong

2008-2010 Glass Invitational NZ, touring exhibition; Canterbury Museum, Christchurch; Milford Galleries

Dunedin; Lopdell House, Auckland

2008 Far North Glass Showcase”, Te Papa Store, Wellington

Glass, Whakatane District Museum, Whakatane

Artworks 2008, Hilton Hotel, Auckland

Northern Light, Morgan Street Gallery, Auckland

Open Slather, Ausglass, Canberra, Australia

2007 Luminous Objects, Tamarillo Gallery, Wellington

Matariki, Whangarei Old Library Gallery, Whangarei

Matariki, Copthorne Hotel, Waitangi

Traces of Light, Tamarillo Gallery, Wellington

The Green Exhibition, Nikau Gallery, Maharangi

2006 18 Degrees, Geoff Wilson Gallery, Whangarei

Luminous, Hilton Hotel, Auckland

Illumination, Tamarillo Gallery, Wellington

A Touch of Glass, Mairangi Bay Arts Centre, Auckland

2005 Cast and Pressed, Indigo Gallery, Kerikeri

AWARDS

2012 Finalist, Ranamok Contemporary Glass Prize Australia

2011 Finalist, Ranamok Contemporary Glass Prize Australia

Jurors’ Choice, New Glass Review 32, Corning Museum of Glass, New York, USA

2010 Winner, Ranamok Glass Prize, Australia


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Finalist, Wallace Art Awards, Auckland

Finalist, Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards, Whakatane

2009 Finalist, Ranamok Glass Prize, Australia


2008 Finalist, Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards, Whakatane

2007 Finalist, Bombay Sapphire NZ Collection


Honourable Mention, Mazda Art Glass Awards BIBLIOGRAPHY 2012 Liz Caughey, “Too Much is Never Enough: Radical Steps in Reinventing Pâte de verre”,

Craft Arts International, no. 86 (2012), pp 51-54.

2011 ‘Ranamok Glass’, Cairns Regional Art Gallery, Australia, 2011

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAnfaB4B2Ec>

2010 ‘Too Much Is Never Enough’, News On ABC, ABC News, 2010,

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeLUlnRFzcA&feature=related>

2008 Benson, Nigel, ‘Moulding Identity’, Otago Daily Times, October 23, 2008

2008 Carrick, Chanelle, ‘Art Seen’, Otago Daily Times, October 30, 2008

Oma (2013)

Documents

SUE HAWKER