New Glass for Whakapara Marae
I have mentioned before my admiration of the glass of Northland artist Kathy Shaw-Urlich. Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting K athy in her workshop and seeing the wonderful new glass windows she is designing and making for the marae of her Ngati Hau people at Whakapara , north of Whangarei . Th i s is a project supported by a Te Waka Toi Creative NZ Arts Grant, which Kathy was awarded last year. A new wharekai (dining room) Te T awaka is to be built next year, and the project includes three windows for that, which Kathy has almost completed . C urrently she is working on the three panels that will fit in the main window of the wharenui Te Ihi o Ne h ua, which was opened in 1998 (see http://www.naumaiplace.com/site/whakapara/home/page/147/marae-buildings/ ). The designs for the win d ows have been developed by Kathy arising from discussions on the marae. There were also visits to places that are special to Ngati Hau such as the river and waterfall Waiariki and the ma...