Emma Camden

Emma Camden (New Zealander, born England 1966), Passage-Red Amber, 2007, cast and cold-worked glass. Gift of David Kaplan and Glenn Ostergaard, 2019.96a-c.

Emma Camden immigrated to New Zealand from England in the early 1990s after graduating from the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom. Working exclusively in cast glass, Camden has pushed the boundaries of the medium to large-scale casting and carving and has established herself as one of the country’s leading studio glass artists.

This sculpture investigates solid forms and ideas about structure and architecture. She has explored the pyramid structure and the Egyptian belief that the shafts of light within it allowed the soul to escape after death. Using simple abstract forms, Camden has carved an optic passageway – creating a separation of space – that allows the viewer to peer into and through the form.