Colourful fusions sure to catch the eye

Artist Bernadine Bourke with one of her fused creations, made by layering copper and glass in a hot kiln. Photo/Bevan Conley

It's copper - but not as we know it.

Artist Bernadine Bourke creates her beautiful artworks by layering copper wire and window glass together and heating it in a kiln, a process she calls "fusing".

What results is a colourful pattern suspended in glass.

Ms Bourke is one of more than 100 artists who will open their studios to the public for the 2014 Artists Open Studios Whanganui, over the weekends of March 22-23 and 29-30.

She has been working with her copper and glass creations for about five years. Her process developed out of night school courses and workshops, a year at the Wanganui Glass School, and a lot of personal experiments.

"I did a workshop on [fusing] but I suppose I've developed my own technique."

And she's still working on her techniques.

"I'm planning to develop techniques for different colours, like blue and green."

When the Wanganui Chronicle visits, Ms Bourke shows us one of her works, which depicts a seahorse in shades of red and pink.

The seahorse, she tells us, is made of metal from an old hot water cylinder.

Many of the materials Ms Bourke uses are recycled.

"It could get very expensive otherwise. I might swap some old glass for a bit of baking, something like that."

She's alternately frustrated and intrigued by the uncertainty of the process.

"You don't know what you are going to get when you take it out of the kiln. There's a lot of different factors - the thickness of the copper, how much oxygen is in it, how hot the kiln is, and how long you keep the glass in the kiln."

Ms Bourke has sold a few pieces of her work, and has had exhibitions in Nelson and Taranaki, but not yet in Wanganui.

This is the first time she has taken part in Open Studios.

"I've been an admirer for a while, but a friend suggested I take part myself, so I decided to give it a go."

For the full Artists Open Studios Whanganui programme, visit www.openstudios.co.nz.