By KATHERINE HOBY
Artist Layla Walter is transparent when it comes to her work. She loves the shapes, textures, patterns and moods of glass.
"I like the rough and smooth contrast, the translucent coolness and the hot colour of glass. Every piece of glass art has a personality."
The 27-year-old Aucklander
is one of 10 recipients of AMP Scholarships. They include a budding spaceship designer, a 13-year-old skateboard accessory entrepreneur and a lecturer who wants to change the way teenagers look at maths.
Walter will travel to Seattle in a month for a three-week workshop with Japanese glass artists, and immerse herself in the international glass art scene with visits to galleries in Seattle and New York.
"I've been talking the talk for a while, saying 'Oh, I'm off to America'," she laughs. "Now I can walk the walk - I'm really going."
Since graduating from Unitec Institute of Technology in 1998 with a Bachelor of Design degree, Walter has worked at setting up on her own.
She has exhibited locally and overseas, and has worked closely with one of New Zealand's leading glass artists, Ann Robinson.
Walter says she has always been artistic.
"I grew up in a rural setting, in Colville on the Coromandel. I learned to weave at a young age. I still remember sitting on a mat weaving, with the sound of chatter and song above me.
"I have always wanted to do something with passion. Without passion there is nothing."
Walter says the people she meets "spark me up."
"I have been lucky. I have been taught that it can be rewarding to turn ideas into reality."
She says the $5000 scholarship will allow her to do the things she dreams of without jeopardising her work in New Zealand, or having to put on hold her long-term aim of establishing her own studio.
The trip to Seattle will provide a chance to learn new techniques.
"I am interested in pattern and texture and the contradiction of smoothness and rough texture in glass, and want to learn new ways of playing with that."
Several commissions await her return - pieces to finish for a November gallery show, and five pieces to work on for a show in Washington DC next year.
Fellow scholarship recipient Stuart Laurence is reaching for the stars.
The 23-year-old Aucklander flew out yesterdayto study for a PhD in astronautics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
He happily admits that being a "maths geek" has paid off.
"I was always keen on maths and physics at school and had a series of very influential teachers," he says.
"To all those considered geeks out there, I'm proof that it does pay dividends."
Mr Laurence was awarded the top fellowship from the aeronautics department at Caltech, the latest in a series of prizes he has received in his research career.
He is off to California a few months early to settle in and "design a few spacecraft," he says casually.
Once the semester starts on October 1, he expects to be working 70 or 80-hour weeks.
He will have a chance to work at the jet propulsion laboratory responsible for Nasa's unmanned space exploration programme.
Mr Laurence hopes this experience will put him in good stead to pursue work in space exploration once he graduates.
Long term he dreams of helping to explore the mysterious red planet, Mars.
And would he like to don a spacesuit himself?
"Well, if I was asked I wouldn't say no," he laughs. "But it is six months to Mars and six months back.
"For the time being I would like to work on designing the craft, not driving them."
Mr Laurence says it is hard to believe that he will study with some of the best in the world.
"In a month I will be designing spacecraft - how many other people can say that?"
He will spend up to six years at Caltech.
"I've got a foot in the door now, and it's a pretty good foot in the door, too. It's step one of my dream and it's amazing."
Whangarei winner Scott Boyd is only 13 years old but already runs his own skateboarding accessory business, making clothing and keyrings.
He dreams of expanding and eventually offering jobs to local people.
Scott's products are sold in 16 North Island outlets.
He also hopes to be a role model for others and to inspire them to pursue their goals.
Success requires "the vision to see, the faith to believe and the courage to do," he says.
Sergiy Klymchuk is Auckland's other scholarship recipient.
The 42-year-old Auckland University of Technology lecturer plans to develop and publish an educational book on financial literacy and critical thinking.
It will be sent to every New Zealand school, college and library.
Mr Klymchuk aims to motivate teenagers to look at maths from another angle.
More than 650 people applied for the scholarships.
Recipients range from a musical director to a conservationist and a golfer. Not all winners have been named yet.
But AMP managing director John Drabble says the prize was raised to $5000 because the judges were so impressed with the calibre of talent.
Two recipients will receive $20,000 over two years. Those winners will be announced at the end of August.
Features:
* Our turn
* The jobs challenge
* Common core values
* href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?reportID=57032">The knowledge society
Official website:
Catching the Knowledge Wave
By KATHERINE HOBY
Artist Layla Walter is transparent when it comes to her work. She loves the shapes, textures, patterns and moods of glass.
"I like the rough and smooth contrast, the translucent coolness and the hot colour of glass. Every piece of glass art has a personality."
The 27-year-old Aucklander
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