Sculptor Profile

 

Rebecca Rose

Rebecca Rose’s love of gardening and outdoor spaces was honed during her initial training as a landscape designer. This triggered a desire to create artworks for these arenas and from 1990-93 she retrained in sculpture with Dutch immigrant sculptor, Theo Janssen. Initially working in bronze, Rose’s ambition to build larger pieces led her to explore concrete as a medium. From 1995 to 2000 Rebecca completed five series of tall figurative works in concrete that are now found in gardens throughout the country, including a gathering of nine pieces at Government House, Wellington. Recent work has focussed on the cyclic nature of life, influenced by the arrival of her three children. Orb was inspired by Rose’s observation of pine cones. While the circular form is derived from the pine cone shape, Rose has explored the symbolism of the pine cone as a repository of new life and new beginnings. Its form is comprised of numerous seeds, each with individual irregularity which link together to form a perfect whole. Rose sees in this a metaphor for the world and the interconnectedness of humanity. Rose also enjoys the correlation of the rusted steel with the golden hues recurrent in the Central Otago landscape: “that good old rustic earthy look”.