Whanganui artist showcasing work at Hāwera’s Lysaght-Watt gallery

Whanganui artist Rosalind Fitz Patrick creates fused glass art.

The 2023 Lysaght Watt Trust Art Awards supreme winner will have a solo exhibition in Taranaki.

Whanganui’s Rosalind Fitz Patrick’s 805° exhibition opens at Lysaght Watt Gallery in Hāwera next month. In an emailed press release, exhibition curator Libby Hogg says Rosalind’s background in the fashion and textile industry influences her fused glass artwork.

“She graduated with a Diploma in Art and Design from UCOL in 2018. While studying, she was inspired by Whanganui glass artist and tutor Kathryn Wightman.”

The title, 805°, represents the temperature many of Rosalind’s glass artworks will reach in the kiln. In the press release, Rosalind said there are similarities between the fashion and textile industry and fused glass.

“Thread can be woven into patterns. Sand, in the form of glass, can be melted into patterns. In textiles, the loom is used to form patterns, but in glass, the kiln is used.”

To create a new work, Rosalind uses pieces of coloured glass to form a pattern or links glass pieces together with a chain.

Whanganui artist Rosalind Fitz Patrick was the supreme winner of the 2023 Lysaght Watt Trust Art Awards.

She said she travelled to Australia last year and participated in a four-day workshop hosted by studio glass artist Diana Wendt’s Blue Dog Glass Art Inc in Melbourne.

“It was here I learned how to make pieces using pattern bars and thicker glass up to 2cm. My other inspiration has been through workshops with glass artists Carmen Simmonds and Claudia Borella closer to home in Whanganui, a city well known for the decorative glass arts.”

The exhibition opens with an event on Sunday, February 4.

The Details

What: 805° by Rosalind Fitz Patrick

Where: Lysaght Watt Gallery, 4-6 Union St, Hāwera

When: February 4 to March 2

Hours: Monday-Friday, Saturday, 10am to 1 pm