George Agius looks to scale up with New Zealand Glassworks residency

The residency allows professional artists to work alongside local assistants.

Glass artist George Agius is using her New Zealand Glassworks residency to go bigger.

Agius is the third artist to take up the residency programme and wants to explore the theme of residual wā - transitional spaces that exist between two people.

“I’ve been dabbling in personal communication,” she said.

“(The) space left when two people come apart or come together, or that getting to know each other stage, playing with the idea of anxiety through body organs, like intestines, where you can feel a lot of emotion.”

The annual residency gives artists two days of glassblowing each week with paid assistants, accommodation and a solo exhibition at the Whanganui facility.

Agius said having the help of a team allowed her to consider bigger work.

“I’m really trying to make the most of that,” she said.

“I mean, I know most of them to be honest, it’s such a small community, we all know each other and it’s been great to reconnect with some people.

“The more people involved the bigger you can scale up your work and bounce ideas off other people.

“I always wanted to suspend multiples to create a bigger installation so this gives me the opportunity to experiment with that.”

George Agius in on a four-week residency at New Zealand Glassworks.

New Zealand Glassworks manager Madeline Prowd said the residency was great for bringing in a professional artist to work with the local community and the facility’s assistants.

“It just really invigorates the studio,” she said.

“There’s a lot of excitement around new work. The whole point is to allow George to be in the studio and fully focus on her practice and be able to experiment and develop a new body of work for exhibition.

“It’s pretty amazing as well to have a solo exhibition in conjunction with the residency.”

Manawatū-raised Agius has been blowing glass since 2008 when she studied for a diploma in glass design and production at Whanganui’s glass school.

She followed that up with a bachelor of fine arts from Alberta College of Art and Design in Canada and in 2013 completed the JamFactory associate training program in Adelaide.

Agius said she liked to take what was often seen as a craft-based medium and make it more art-based.

“I always knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go and it was about gaining those skills.”

George Agius is giving a public demonstration at NZ Glassworks on Sunday, October 6 from 10am to 1pm.

Zaryd Wilson is the editor of the Whanganui Chronicle. He has been a journalist covering the lower North Island for 12 years. He joined the Whanganui Chronicle as a reporter in 2014 and has been editor since 2021.