Luke Jacomb 'Seeking the Light' (2009)

Luke Jacomb is an outstanding glass artist whose reputation is quickly gathering momentum in New Zealand due to his innovative and superb technical glassmaking skills as well as successes stemming from his recent international touring exhibition and residencies in the United States.

Possessing a strong sculptural sense and devotion to his field and vision, Jacomb combines elements of traditional Maori and Polynesian motifs with sleek design and intricate Venetian glasswork techniques (reticello, murrine, incalmo and retorti) in a distinctive and coherently synthesised aesthetic involving the use of cast and blown glass. To this superb working knowledge of complex techniques and creative expression Jacomb adds cameo cutting and casting as seen in the kowhaiwhai detailing of ‘Red Waka Paddle’.

Jacomb’s sophisticated colour sensibilities deliver an unexpected drama to his elegantly simple forms. He produces expressive tonal contrasts from a bold scarlet red against mirror black in ‘Taha Pair’ to the delicate mauve paired with soft steel blue in ‘Seeking the Light (Rhubarb)’. This acute sense of colour is complimented by his creative use of photosensitive glass pioneering a methodology which enables him to produce luminous images within the glass as evidenced in ‘Magnum Taha’.1

Embodied within Jacomb’s work is “a grace and aesthetic beauty which is a delight, and the tension created from the simultaneous strength and fragility of the material adds an extra dimension to these fine pieces”.2

After eight years in the United States where Jacomb rose to the forefront of the studio glass movement, Jacomb has now returned home to ignite and establish his presence as a significant and unique interdisciplinary New Zealand glass artist. His reputation is already firmly established in the United States and he is represented in significant private and public collections including the Ebeltoff Glass Museum (Denmark), Corning Museum of Glass (New York, USA) and the New Orleans Museum of Art (USA). With such an incredibly high level of creative energy and dedication to his chosen field it is hardly surprising that Jacomb has sought to share his skills and wealth of knowledge with other glass artists. He has taught and worked in numerous glass centres, universities and museums in New Zealand, Australia and the United States teaching alongside renowned glass artists such as Dale Chihuly.

Drawn from his 2008-09 solo museum exhibition which toured in the United States,3 ‘Seeking the Light’ is a culmination and celebration of Jacomb’s remarkable level of achievement thus far.  This important exhibition, Jacomb’s first solo showing in New Zealand, provides astute collectors, critics and curators in New Zealand tangible evidence of why he is so acclaimed.

1. John W Keefe (Curator of Decorative Arts, NOMA), ‘Seeking the Light: Studio Glass by Luke Jacomb’, New Orleans Museum of Art, 2009.
2. James Dignan, ‘Heart of Glass’, Otago Daily Times, 05 March 2009.
3. ‘Seeking the Light’ debuted at the New Orleans Museum of Art (13 September 2008 – 04 January 2009) and was then presented at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 21 January – 29 March 2009