bodner051

As its name says, this blog is about New Zealand glass, mostly as a form of discipline to keep my enthusiasm in check. But occasionally, as you may have noticed, I stray a little, usually when there is a New Zealand connection. I also deal mostly with glass that is blown or cast. But this entry is about flat glass, architectural glass, stained glass, and although these windows are in New Zealand, they sit very firmly in the tradition of Irish glass. The New Zealand connection is both the location of the windows, in the Karori Crematorium and Chapel, Wellington, and a link to contemporary New Zealand maker of stained glass windows, Kathy Shaw-Urlich. Karori Crematorium and Chapel, Wellington The Crematorium and Chapel was built in 1909, as the doorway proclaims, and is a Category I Listed heritage place. It was the first crematorium built in New Zealand, but its main interest for us is in the six stained glass windows in the interior. These were commissioned between 1914 and 1939 from t...

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. ...

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

Keith Mahy was one of the pioneer glass artists in New Zealand, and one with a long career. In June 2013, I wrote about Keith's death (http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/keith-mahy-one-of-pioneers.html) , and explored some of his early work on 18 October 2014 (http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/are-these-early-pieces-by-keith-mahy.html ). More recently, I showed a range of examples of his work, based on my growing understanding following an opportunity to see examples of his work in the collection of his partner Shona ( http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/more-mahy-mahi.html ). Shona loaned me a number of archival items, including two fascinating newspaper accounts of visits to Keith's studio at Otonga, near Hikurangi North of Whāngārei, in 1976 and 1979. In the 1970s, New Zealanders had very few opportunities to see studio glass blowing, with only Keith, Tony Kuepfer in Taranaki and Reg Kempton in Marlborough operating studios. It would seem tha...