bodner051

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...

One of the pioneers of glass in New Zealand has died in Wairoa. James Walker graduated in commerce from the University of Michigan in 1971, then went to travel the world. He first came to New Zealand in 1974 to join his brother on a boat. He worked selling water beds in Auckland, and would go to Australia periodically to renew his tourist visa (he eventually got residency). James was interested in glass. He saw Dennis Prior selling leadlight lampshades at Cook St market. At John Barleycorn Gallery he saw some of John Croucher's early experiments in glass, made while John and Eric Ineson were working at Claude Neon. James first met John Croucher on the day in January 1976 that John signed the lease on the Sunbeam Glass studio in Jervois Rd, Auckland. James became a partner in Sunbeam (pictured at right in 2005). Lots of different types of glass were being made by a range of artists. James became increasingly focused on architectural glass, and after the first NZSAG community se...