Being an innovative craftsman fits comfortably with Glen Colechin’s engineering background. With a career in product design and production engineering, he has a sound foundation with the skills to drive his creative core. “Art is everywhere,” Glen explains. “You need that creative eye to see it. That’s what makes me a good engineer.”

Glen’s contemporary sculptures are made from recycled materials, off-cuts from native timbers, recycled copper, and natural elements like stone and wood found on hikes along the coast in the Hawkes Bay, where he calls Napier his home.

“My studio is set up with my tools and materials which function like instruments in an orchestra, and I’m the composer. The finished artwork is the musical masterpiece,” Glen explains.

Glen continually scours recycling plants and construction businesses for items he can transform into beautiful works of art. “I see shapes in materials and think how it will form part of a subject  I want to create,” Glen describes. “Some things can take a year to manifest, but they all slot into place eventually.”

With an imaginary picture-board in his head, Glen adds images to it, as he goes about his daily life. When he’s ready to create a new sculpture, he looks through the collection on the imageboard in his mind. He selects different combinations of forms to develop the concept design before preparing to create his next masterpiece.

Photo by Pete Cernis