For only the second time in their history, the national glass art organisations of Australia and New Zealand have combined to hold a major international conference. Ausglass, the principal body for the promotion of contemporary glass in Australia, and the New Zealand Society of Glass Artists met for a wonderful weekend of glass in Whanganui, followed by a series of workshops. The first joint conference was held at Inglewood in Taranaki in April 1983 - see http://newzealandglass.blogspot.com/2012/08/nz-society-artists-in-glass-conference.html.
CoLab 2019 was a much larger occasion, with over 220 participants from NZSAG and Ausglass, as well as international guest speakers from Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, UK and USA. The theme was Collaboration, expressed in a number of ways. The event itself was a collaboration between the two national glass organisations, and several speakers or groups of speakers spoke about they way in which collaboration with other artists was a feature of their glass practice.
To celebrate the theme of Collaboration, the chandelier masters Crystal Chain Gang (Leanne Williams and Jim Dennison) - with lots of help! - made a collaborative chandelier for The CoLab Conference. NZSAG and Ausglass Members were collaborative partners in this exciting project, making myriad elements to create a dynamic, illuminated and unique collective work of art glass. The finished piece was on exhibition at the Sarjeant Gallery over the course of the conference. The project could not have been realised without the generous support of NZSAG, Ausglass, The Sarjeant Gallery and New Zealand Glassworks.
These are some of those who collaborated in making the CoLab Chandelier.
The Sarjeant Gallery hosted the NZSAG / Ausglass Members' Exhibition, always a conference highlight, and a number of well deserved prizes were awarded, with Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall making the presentations, under the watchful eye of the Presidents of the two organisations.
Carmen Simmonds (NZSAG, left) and Kate Nixon (Ausglass) reading out the prize winners' names.
Mayor Hamish with Anne Robinson (above left), Sue Hawker (above right), Lee Howes (centre), Keith Grinter (below left) and Richard Clements (below right).
As a way of engaging the Whanganui public, but also because it was fun, a team of glassblowers went back to (nearly) the beginnings of glass-making, re-creating on the Castlecliff foreshore a wood fired Roman style glass furnace.
Sui Jackson from Australia led a team in building an adobe furnace; a simple, wood fired construction that could be built quickly and cheaply from locally sourced materials. Throughout the afternoon public demonstrations from local and international glass blowers showed just what could be done when working in this primitive style, sometimes using a 2 piece mould made from pumice found on the beach.
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| Photo: Geoffery Bunker |
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| Photo: Geoffery Bunker |
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| Photo: Geoffery Bunker |
CoLab 2019 was a highly successful event, full of learning, fun, new and renewed friendships, and of course, lots of collaboration. It would not have been possible without the support of some generous sponsors:
Government sponsors
Government sponsors
Civic Sponsors
Whanganui & Partners
Premium
Air Chathams
Partner
David Jones Motors
Wanganui Chronicle Newspaper
NZ Glassworks
Associate
Black Door Gallery
Canberra Glassworks
Progress Castlecliff
Cristalica Studio Glass
Kurt Merker GmbH
CDK Stone NZ Ltd
Nick Mount Glass
Artists prizes
Gaffer Glass
Suzanne Milham
Grinter Glass
Shinagawa
Refractories Australasia NZ Ltd
Glass Art in New
Zealand (GAINZ)
Jan McLean Designs Ltd
Annette Cave
Peter Nolan
Venter and Hull Chartered Accountants
Country Lane & Fifty-Five
Trade site
His Glassworks
DichroNZ
GS Traders
Nick Mount Glass
Melt 45
Zircar Refractory Composites, Inc. Mold Mix 6
Glass Art in New Zealand (GAINZ)
... as well as those who preferred their generosity to remain anonymous
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