Monday 11 November 2013

A Glass Mini Road trip - Part 3 Whāngārei

Recently I had a chance to combine a non-glass related visit to Auckland with seeing several glass exhibitions and activities. Nothing particularly links these things except my participation, but they did provide some acquisitions for my collection. I have divided them up so they don't make too big a blog - this is the third of the series of three.
 
On my way back north, I called in (as I frequently do) at Burning Issues in Whāngārei. I was keen to see the new gaffer, Keith Grinter, who has taken over following the death of Keith Mahy (see my blog of 17 June 2013).  On his website http://www.keithgrinter.com/, Keith describes his excitement over his venture:
 
'On 16th September 2013 I started work in my own glass blowing studio in Whangarei. I had been discussing moving to Whangarei and working with Keith Mahy when he died unexpectedly. A few weeks later I was offered the opportunity of purchasing the studio by Shona Firman. With the help of Garry Nash I started the furnace on Tuesday and spent the next two days warming it up slowly until it was ready to add batch to make glass. During the week I made my first glass batch from the raw chemicals following Keith Mahy's old recipe. On Saturday 21st September I spent from 8am to 3.30 blowing glass in my own studio. Thanks to Shona Firman and Garry Nash for their kind support.'
 
Keith Grinter's art practice until now has had a painterly emphasis; he is a painter both on canvas and on glass.  Whilst I am sure that will continue, he has recognised the need to vary what he does, and he is currently working to develop his glass blowing skills. Not that he is any slouch; at left is a piece in my collection that was exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington in November 2007. 
 
But being totally responsible for a studio is quite a different matter, and Keith's current production is much more exploratory. I was delighted to purchase one of his 'trial' pieces, to document this new phase of his work. Getting rid of the bubbles is a current challenge. 
  
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Another issue is the blue tinge in what is batched as clear glass. Rebecca Heap is continuing to blow her work in Whāngārei, as she was doing when Keith Mahy was there, and it was great to find she was there too when I visited.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rebecca had been working with Keith Mahy on a new furnace, and Keith had made its first batch just before he died.  With help from Garry Nash, Rebecca got that first melt going, and blew some pieces from it, one of which she very kindly gave me. 
 
 
Rebecca said ''Keith and I shared an interest in hand blown industrial glass so it seemed fitting to use an old factory mould to make these little cups out of the last batch he melted. They look especially nice when used as votives as the cold graphite thumb prints make the candle light dance. The glass is blue because it was the first melt in a new furnace and we bought the pot second hand from Gaffer Glass where it had last been used for cobalt colour bars".
 
The reference to industrial glass relates to Keith Mahy's work at Crown Crystal Glass, and Rebecca's experience working in Sweden at Pukeberg and Orrefors between 2006 and 2011, after she graduated from Whanganui.
 
I'm delighted that my 'local' glass studio continues, under new management, and I'll certainly be calling in to see Keith Grinter, and Rebecca Heap on her working days there, as I pass through Whāngārei.
 
 

Tuesday 5 November 2013

A Glass Mini Road trip - Part 2 'Whispers'

Recently I had a chance to combine a non-glass related visit to Auckland with seeing several glass exhibitions and activities. Nothing particularly links these things except my participation, but they did provide some acquisitions for my collection. I have divided them up so they don't make too big a blog - this is the second of what will probably be a series of three.
 
Living in the North, I don't get to attend gallery exhibition openings very often. so I was delighted to realise that my being in Auckland would coincide with the opening of the exhibition Whispers at Masterworks Gallery in Ponsonby.  The exhibition (on until 17 November) comprises five stunning chandeliers made by 'The Crystal Chain Gang' from Masterton, being Jim Dennison and Leanne Williams. Sadly, the 'Gang' was not present (I guess it's a long way from Masterton to Ponsonby), but they certainly had a presence.


Jim and Leanne made their first chandelier in 2006. Because they are so labour intensive, the chandeliers are usually made as 'bespoke' items, made for a client on commission. Although by their nature chandeliers are made to be highly visible, they are not often able to be seen publicly, and especially not as a group.  Fortunately for us, the current Master of Masterworks Eloise Kitson worked with Jim and Leanne to bring together a group of these chandeliers together in an exhibition, five splendid Masterworks. Eloise kindly approved my photographing these so here they are. No photo has all five, but above are four of them.

  
Jim and Leanne often reference birds and feathers in their glass art, and these chandeliers are very feathery items indeed. 





But while some of the individual components are whole birds and some are individual feathers, as seen at left, very effective use was also made of elements comprising just the spine of the feather, as in the example at  the right.  A wonderful video running in the gallery showed how these were 'mass-produced' (something of an overstatement for these individually crafted pieces) by the Chain Gang.


This is the fifth chandelier, and is probably my personal favourite, though sadly the architecture of both my house and my budget mean I'm not likely to be able to add this to my collection. But I was delighted to have the opportunity to see this wonderful group of works. Thanks, Jim and Leanne (and Eloise).

Two footnotes. Jim and Leanne have a great website which documents their work, both chandeliers and other amazing creations. It's well worth exploring at http://www.crystalchaingang.co.nz/.

Secondly, for northerners, the Crystal Chain Gang's current touring exhibition Fancy Fool's Flight opens at Piece Gallery, Matakana on 23 November until 16 December. I saw this remarkable show when it was at Objectspace in Auckland. It's amazing, and I'll certainly be calling in to have a second look while it is in Matakana.

Monday 4 November 2013

A Glass Mini Road Trip - Part 1 'Off the Main Road'

Recently I had a chance to combine a non-glass related visit to Auckland with seeing several glass exhibitions and activities. Nothing particularly links these things except my participation, but they did provide some acquisitions for my collection. I'll divide them up so they don't make too big a blog - there'll likely be three in this series.

Off the Main Road III at the Red Barn Gallery
First up, I went to see Off the Main Road III at Graeme Hitchcock's Red Barn Gallery at Churchill (west of Te Kauwhata, if like me you didn't know where Churchill is). This was an exhibition of glass by Graeme and colleagues Karin Barr, Judi Hadfield and Michelle Judge, with stone sculpture by Jonathan Bowman and bronzes by Todd Butterworth and Phil Neary. It was great to meet Michelle who was on exhibition-minding duty, but otherwise I was the only one there (a mid-week afternoon not being peak exhibition viewing time). There had been good numbers the previous weekend, and on the subsequent Labour weekend as well, I understand. 

There was a great range of Graeme's distinctive glass sculptures, which enabled me to select a 'Man Looking' for my collection, something I have been meaning to do for a while.  Graeme's ability to create almost cartoon like figures in glass is quite remarkable. 

'Man Looking' makes me wonder what he is looking at


I loved Karin Barr's quarry scree installation in Re:Fraction - the Outdoor Glass Exhibition at the Waitakaruru Sculpture Park and Arboretum in October 2012. Karin has been a sculptor in stone, and her affinity for rocks shows through in her glass.


 


 


This 'Rock' by Karin Barr looks beautiful in the sunshine
I was delighted to see a range of Karin's colourful 'rocks' in Off the Main Road III - another purchase.


 








In 2012 I also saw Graeme Hitchcock's installation at Waitakaruru, where he used a pond very evocatively to speak to the plight of boat people.



Sadly, the glass exhibition scheduled for Waitakaruru this year had to be cancelled.  It's a great shame that the Trust that runs the park struck difficulties - it's no longer open to casual visitors, but only to pre-arranged group visits.  It is greatly to be hoped that things can be resurrected. 

See http://www.sculpturepark.co.nz/ for more information. If you drill down on that site to http://www.sculpturepark.co.nz/exhibitions/re-fraction-2012-the-outdoor-glass-exhibition you can see all the works in the exhibition, including Graeme's and Karin's. I referred to Lou Pendergrast-Mathieson's tamarillos I acquired there in an earlier blog in March 2013.

And so on to Auckland, for the next step in this saga...