Early Glass by Peter Viesnik
Recently a piece was offered on TradeMe that seemed on first indications to be one of the first pieces of glass made by Peter Viesnik at Albany in 1978. Discussion with Peter, and his inspection of the piece indicated that it was not an Albany piece, but was probably made by him about 1982, in the second year of his working with Peter Raos at the Hot Glass Company at Devonport. There, unlike Albany, the glass was batched but at that early stage they were batching one colour at a time, like this blue, rather than clear. The pattern on each face is the chill mark from the marver, used to slightly 'square' the round form. Peter Viesnik c. 1982 - Park collection This discussion led to an interview with Peter about his beginnings in glass. He gave me a great morning, during which I learnt a lot, and also got to see two pieces that were made at Albany in 1978, which Peter still has. Peter was born in the UK, and as a young man travelled quite a bit, both on his National Se...