Author: Sienna Hawthorne

The Corning Museum of Glass selected New Zealand-based artist Te Rongo Kirkwood as the winner of the 38th Rakow Commission. Kirkwood is known for her vibrant and evocative works of kiln-formed glass that explore themes of her Māori, English, and Scottish heritage and identity. The commissioned installation, The Seer, the Seen, the Seeing, is comprised of three main elements: a kākahu (cloak), made of kiln-formed glass and woven fibers; a puru hau (sacred ritual vessel) in blown glass; and a film. The cloak and vessel are key components of a filmed ceremony centering Kirkwood and her father, set against the backdrop of their ancestral lands…