about colleen

Colleen Ryan-Priest is a glass artist using the ancient technique of the lost wax method of casting. Larger works utilize steel and ‘found’ glass to satisfy a need to take ‘fragile’ glass outside.

The meaning of her work is grounded in her environmental, political and social ‘sense of place’ from her previous career as a landscape architect. Design work in remote landscapes such as Antarctica has provided an insight into the geological processes of our landscape and the social relationships of people and their environment.

Her work has been selected for major national exhibitions throughout New Zealand and in Australia. Exhibitions and invitations include the following; finalist in Ranamok 2008, Sculpture on Shore 2008, 2010, Sarjeant Gallery Exhibition ‘ Looking Glass; Reflecting Ideas’ and Stoneleigh Sculpture in the Gardens Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition 2009. Colleen’s installation at the Stoneleigh Exhibition, ‘Caught in the Act of Losing You – Sporadanthus ferrugineus’ was awarded the Friends of the Garden Acquisition Prize and is now part of their permanent public outdoor sculpture collection.

Relevant Education

2001/11 NZ, Australia and Scottish Glass workshops and conferences

2001/04 Artstation Auckland NZ

1985       Post Graduate Diploma Landscape Architecture, Lincoln University

1973       Diploma Fine Arts Canterbury University

Awards

2011       NZ Glass Artists Conference, 2011 Glass Prize

2006       Awarded fellow of New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architecture

1985/04 6 x NZILA Awards including Prestigious Charlie Challenger Premier Award in recognition of outstanding planning and design 1991

1985       1985 International Federation of Landscape Architects. Finalist Student Design Award

Public Commissions

2007       Friends of Waikato Museum commission, two works from the Antarctic Ice Block series

1985/86  Antarctic Division, NZ Govt. Design project commission for Scott Base in Antarctica including summer and winter site visits2

Public Collections

2012       2012 Taupo Sculpture Trust acquisition of ‘Swell’ for installation on the Lake Taupo Lakefront

2009       Auckland Botanic Gardens acquisition of ‘Caught in the Act of Losing You.”

2008       Waikato Museum of Art and History, two matching Antarctic Ice Blocks

2006       2006 Waikato Museum of Art and History, Narratives of the River, cast class installation length 2.5m

Solo Exhibition

2006       Vitrine Exhibition, Waikato Museum of Art and History