Stonor's Gallery: In the Kangaroo Island region of South Australia

KI is an island full of picture postcard vistas. Many of the views are featured in travel brochures the world over and visitors marvel at the subtle colours and age-old forces, which have created it all. Often, visitors to KI concentrate on the ‘big ticket’ items and miss the beauty that's right in front of their eyes.

That’s where glass artist, Bernie Stoner comes in - he manages to capture Kangaroo Island's beauty in miniature. Vivid impressions of coastal heath are trapped in things like glass paperweights - a stunning fusion of molten magic.

In the warmth of his glass studio Bernie also works on more accessible and traditional pieces like a set of wineglasses. But regardless of what he's making, it's the syrupy texture of molten glass that still captivates this former Underdale Art School Lecturer.

“Swirling colour helps with glass because glass looks like it's still moving. You can use glass to make the colour look like it's still moving. It all goes together nicely.”

Bernie says he still gets a kick out of creating something unexpected.

“If something works really well it's fantastic. But generally you have to plan things in glass - you don't get a lot of happy accidents. Generally you have to plan and if you plan properly and practice properly it'll work.”

There must have been a lot of planning and practice go into some of his art. He showed us a piece where the pattern is made up of individual rods of glass, which Bernie snaps into suitable lengths and assembles in a colourful cross section.

“All the colours attract temperature at different rates so if you've got a piece with several different colours in it, it can upset things. It’s all a matter of practice.”

And he’s had plenty of time to practice too. Twenty years ago he was accidentally poisoned while working with treated woods. It was then he made the conversion to glass and five years ago he and partner Sheila, an artist who works in textiles, moved to KI for a quieter life. Now their gallery, a converted concrete rainwater tank, sits amid the KI scrub surrounded by free-range chooks.

Inside the gallery images of the island are trapped in glass - in paperweights, wineglasses, scent bottles and sculptural pieces. Some float to the surface of Bernie's imagination months after his regular snorkeling and dive trips around Kangaroo Island.

“By building complexity with lots of small things you get flowers and reefs and seaweed - almost anything. Glass has got transparency and it's got fluidity. It’s a liquid and you form it into what you want it to be while it's a liquid and then it slowly sets without changing. It stays looking like a liquid and that's the beauty of it and that's why you can do these lovely things.

“You can make it transparent, you can make it opaque, you can fill it with colour, you can float things inside it or you can just plaster things over the outside of it. There are all these different ways you can approach your subject.”

Bernie and Shiela Stonor's Gallery is just off the Penneshaw to Kinsgcote Road, about one point three kilometres from the turnoff to Island Beach. It's open daily. Or you can contact the Gallery on 8553 7383. If you are visiting Kangaroo Island, Emu Bay has one of the best beaches on the island and a great selection of accommodation. Click here for more details.