Judith Le Harivel

I have always loved making things. I like using different media to bring alternative perspectives to my work. Glass is my principle medium.

Natural and organic forms influence my work and I’m drawn to emotive and imperfect art. My first glass artworks focused on folds - in the New Zealand landscape and in clothing the human body.

Recently, I have been exploring in glass the human form and the interface between humans and the rest of the animate world. Humans as dominant species tend to regard the natural world as something to control or use. But I’m inspired by the idea of the Earth as a single living system, in which all things in the natural world have agency. I have developed this concept of agency in a series of artworks based around the ancient personification of nature as spirits.

I've practised as an architect and had management roles in the community and public sector. I learnt about glass casting at workshops and from fellow artists; finally in later life I returned to art studies at The Learning Connexion. I have been making cast glass for around 8 years from my small home studio on the Kapiti Coast.