bodner051

John Croucher was an important influence on the development of glass in Auckland and New Zealand. After some experimentation and with the support of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council John set up Sunbeam Glassworks in Jervois Road in 1976. Formed as a loose co-op of several craft-workers, glass production included hot glass, flat glass and flame working. In 1981 two new glass-blowers became partners with John Croucher at Sunbeam. Ann Robinson was a student at Elam in 1980, and while there met Australian Garry Nash.  After Ann graduated from Elam, she and Garry joined John Croucher at Sunbeam in 1981. They developed the new Sunbeam studio in McKelvie Street in Ponsonby. This was a highly successful partnership, and the Sunbeam artists brought wide exposure to this new art form.  Photo: Krzysztof Pfeiffer, from Pacific Glass '83. John Croucher at Sunbeam, 1982 Photo: Mark Wilson One of the Sunbeam pieces that made quite an impact was John Croucher's Hot Lips Trilogy , made i...

  In June 2007, I purchased this piece from Emma Camden’s exhibition ...something remaining... at Avid gallery in Wellington. ‘Fading memory’ is cast in pale yellow translucent glass. It represents a charm bracelet trinket in the form of a revolving double sided mirror. Cast into the glass ‘mirror’ face are the words ‘Fading’ on one side and ‘memory’ on the other, so that the words show through to combine as ‘Fading memory’. It is 14cm wide and 16cm long, with the ‘mirror’ being 10cm in diameter. I published a brief note about Fading memory in this blog in June 2007 - see http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2007/06/emma-camden-at-avid.html     The exhibition at Avid included several of these bracelet ‘charms’ in glass, which I understand were pieces based on a charm bracelet that belonged to Emma's mother. Emma is preparing for a retrospective exhibition (that'll be something to look forward to!), and she'd like to locate the other pieces from the Avid exhibition. ...