bodner051

In my last two blogs I have talked about the late Keith Mahy, one of New Zealand's pioneer studio glass makers. Recently, since I was in the vicinity, I found out from friends where the site of Keith's second studio was, on the Pahi Peninsula in the Kaipara harbour.    I'm always keen to document former (as well as present) glass studios, so I made a visit and took some photos. The studio is, of course, empty of glass making equipment, now being used for storage by the current owners. Keith Mahy at work in his studio at Pahi Keith bought the land here in 1979, and built the house and studio , moving in with his family in 1980. They were here until he moved again, to Whāngārei, to take up a position as Tutor, Glass and Design at Northland Polytechnic

I wrote yesterday about the wonderful tamarillos of Lou Pendergrast-Mathieson. But you can't talk about glass tamarillos and not refer to the work of Fran Anderton, who has made tamarillos very much her own fruit.  I have admired them for quite a while, and was very pleased to be able to acquire one from the Whanganui Glass Festival exhibition in October last year.   Fran was born in England (and nothing wrong with that, I say assertively) and moved to New Zealand as a schoolgirl.  She trained in glass design and production at UCOL Whanganui, graduating with a Diploma in 2003. She has a strong interest in the natural envi ronment, which she attributes in part to having a plant propagator for a mother and a florist for a sister, though Fran says she is also influenced by the uniqueness of New Zealand's beautiful native bush, beaches and scenery . Avocadoes, citrus and olives have all provided inspiration for her bottles and bowls, but in my view it is her tamarillo bottle...

My latest TradeMe purchase is a paper weight made by Tony Kuepfer - it is signed AWK, though not dated.  I have a number of paper weights Tony made, but this one is unusual in that it has the form and features of a head.  I asked Tony about it, and he told me that whilst he can't remember the exact year, one Easter in the early 1980s he made 6 or 8 of these, which he called 'Easter egg heads'.  The glass is deep blue, with the 'hair' made with the silver chloride colouration Tony liked to use around that period.     Other paper weights Tony made at this time include these three.  The one on the right is signed AWK NZ '79, the one at left is signed AWK '79 NZ, while the rather splendid larger one at the bottom is signed AWK '80