Te Rongo Kirkwood

Te Rongo Kirkwood (born 1973) is an artist from Auckland, New Zealand. She is known for her glass art, particularly in fused and slumped glass.

Career Kirkwood credits her initial interest in glass art to meeting renowned glass artist Danny Lane in the United Kingdom. When she returned to New Zealand, her interest grew, but with two young children, she was not able to attend a formal multi-year course in glass art at a university. She purchased a glass kiln and began to learn independently. In 2009 she won the Auckland Royal Easter Show art awards in the glass art category with her 'Puawai' piece. In 2014 and 2012, she was selected as a finalist in the Australian Ranamok Glass Prize

She has also contributed to the Project Twin Streams project in Waitakere by producing a major artwork near the pathway at Millbrook Esplanade. Her glass sculpture 'Te Aho Maumahara – Sacred Strand of Memories' hangs in the community area of the Devonport Library.

In 2014, her work was exhibited in the group show Te Hau A Uru: A Message from the West at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery alongside artists Rebecca Baumann, Philip Dadson, Brett Graham, Lisa Reihana and Tanya Ruka. Between June 2015 and February 2016, Kirkwood's Ka Awatea series, previously displayed at Pataka Art + Museum in 2012, was exhibited at the De Young Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco. In June 2016, Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, featuring the work of Kirkwood and jeweller Areta Wilkinson opened at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Exhibitions

Solo Ka Awatea, Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua, 2012 Nga Kakahu Karaihe, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, 11 April – 6 May 2015 Ka Awatea, De Young (museum), San Francisco, CA, January 2014 – February 2016 Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu: Artists Areta Wilkinson and Te Rongo Kirkwood at Auckland Museum, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, 1 July – 11 September 2016

Group Te Hau a Uru: A Message from the West, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, 1 November – 7 December 2014

Gallery