bodner051

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...

The supermarket this morning was full of daffodils.  I began a ritual in 1980, which I think I have repeated each year since.  I had just bought a vase made by Mel Simpson, and it is perfect for tall stemmed flowers like daffodils.  Most of the year it sits with other pieces in my collection, but come spring it is given pride of place with a bunch (or several) of daffodils, jonquils or erlicheers.  It's a fairly simple cylindrical piece, distinguished by an applied band that spirals up to its rim (or down from the rim, I suppose).  It has a lustre, something that Mel used a lot over the years, but it appeals to me because of its simplicity - it doesn't compete with the flowers. This was one of the first pieces of glass I bought after moving to Auckland in 1979 and 'discovering' that New Zealanders made studio glass.  I didn't record where I bought it - from memory it might have been the Whitecliffe gallery that used to be at the top of the Parnell shops for...