Are These Early Pieces by Keith Mahy?

Garry Nash said this handle was a Mahy trademark 19cm 

h

In June last year I wrote about the death on 14 June 2013 of Keith Mahy, one of the pioneers of glass in New Zealand http://newzealandglass.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/keith-mahy-one-of-pioneers.html. One of my considerable regrets is that although Keith lived and worked so close to me in Northland, I never got to interview him about his life and work. I spoke to him about my intention several times and he responded willingly, but I never got round to it.

Sadly now broken, this handle was the identifier too

Again the handle form is distinctive 13cm h

One of the things I intended to do in that interview was to show Keith a number of pieces in my collection that I believe to be his, seeking confirmation that they are Mahy pieces. Keith seldom signed his work, and certainly in the early period I don't think he signed anything. So identifying his work is problematical. Some times a former owner will attribute a piece to Keith, sometimes other glass artists have recognised a piece as being made by Keith, but often I have made a (more or less well-) informed guess, based on design, glass colour and quality, and ultimately, 'gut feel'. It's not a very good way to identify pieces, but it is usually all I have. 

The TradeMe vendor said Keith made this pair of beer mugs

Mugs 12.5cm h left, 15.5 right

 

Bottle 28cm h, vase 13cm dia

I believe the pieces shown here were all made by Keith in the 1970s or early 1980s. But my purpose is to seek feedback from others who may know. Please let me know if you think Keith did not make a piece (or if you can confirm that he did, better still!). And for those of you who may use my blogs to help develop your own collections, 'caveat emptor et lector' - buyer and reader beware! 

 

The same vendor said these two were also by Keith

25cm h

23cm h

As I see more pieces, my confidence grows, but equally, the risk of making a mistake grows too! These two bottles 'feel' like Keith Mahy pieces, but are they?








And then, if those are Keith's, what about these?

22cm h

23cm h

21.5cm h

28.5cm h

14.5cm h

21cm h

Sam Halstead, Mt Eden stained glass maker in the 1980s sent me this photo of a Mahy piece he has, which he thought he bought in the early 1980s. That made me more confident about the brown one above.

9cm diam

A neighbour of Keith's in Pahi bought the piece at right from him in the 1970s, which gives me confidence the piece at left is by him too.

And lastly, of course, there can be no doubt about these, though Keith was the designer rather than the maker of these Crown Crystal glass pieces

So Who Was GBC?

One of the great thrills of hunting for glass on internet auction website TradeMe is when you buy something you don't know what it is, but you have a hunch, and it turns out to be something quite special.

Of course, there are also those occasions when the hunch proves to be wrong, and the piece turns out to be nothing, or something of no interest that I can't identify. Which is why I have a box of motley pieces ready to be donated to the Opp Shop...

But here's one of the success stories.

A chunky art glass goblet, the trader said, with GBC 1979 engraved on the base. No other clues as to its origin or the identity of the maker. The auction was set for bidding to start at $20, with no reserve price.

I racked my brains to think who GBC might be, but to no avail.  There was a photo, which had hints of NZ glass - Keith Mahy seemed a possibility, but he clearly wasn't 'GBC'. The photo wasn't as clear as this one, which I took once the piece arrived, but it was good enough to encourage me to bid. So I did. There was no interest from anyone else, so my opening bid of $20 was successful.

Garry Nash has always been helpful in my NZ glass research (as indeed have others), and he was involved in the glass scene in 1979, so I thought I'd send him an email to ask what he thought.  A few days later I happened to be in Auckland so I called in to Nash Glass to see if Garry had any thoughts about it.  Talking about it with Garry Nash and his colleague Claire Bell, Claire said ‘that could be a J, what is John Croucher’s middle name?’ Garry said at once ‘Barry, John Barry Croucher’.

Which made for a really exciting possibility.  Once the piece arrived and I could handle it, I could confirm that it indeed it had JBC 1979 on the base, as you can see in the photo on the right.

I sent the photos off to John Croucher, who replied, saying: 

'Yep you have a very early Croucher. We had just started blowing full time then. Amazing that people bought enough of that stuff that we could keep on doing it!'

So I am thrilled to be able to add this to my collection. I have several early Crouchers, but this is one of the earliest, and certainly the earliest signed one. The glass is very similar to that used in the decanter I have blogged about before, that was bought at Sunbeam in 1979 but is not signed.  (See 'An Early Piece of Sunbeam Glass?' from May 2007). John was unable to be certain which of the early Sunbeams had made the decanter, identifying Danny Keighly, Ken Cooke and himself as possibilities, though he didn't think he had made it.  But with the signature, there can be no doubt who made this goblet.

Just to round out the story, here are two other early pieces signed by John that I have bought on TradeMe, though I paid quite bit more than $20, since the vendors knew what they were. 

 

The vase at left is signed 'J Croucher 1982' and the 'Hot Lips' sculpture at right is signed 'J Croucher 83'.

Elizabeth McClure: an important influence and a wonderful artist

In my last post about Sue Treanor, I mentioned Elizabeth McClure as Lecturer in Glass at Carrington Polytechnic, UNITEC in the 1990s. Elizabeth is someone whose role in New Zealand glass is perhaps less well known. To my shame I recall giving a talk about glass in the 1980s in New Zealand without mentioning her, when she was in the audience! She was very gracious about it, and we subsequently had a good interview, in the course of which I learned a lot.

I first saw Elizabeth's work in March 1994, at an exhibition Little Jewels organised in the James Cook Hotel in Wellington by the regrettably short-lived Arts Marketing Board of Aotearoa (AMBA). I purchased this exquisite scent bottle there. It's small and delicate, only 5.2 cm in diameter, and decorated in enamels.  It was made in September 1993 - Elizabeth is meticulous in marking her work detail.

The bottle had originally been shown in Making Marks the first solo exhibition of her work after her return to New Zealand, held at the also short-lived Glass Gallery in Ponsonby. The exhibition title aptly references the coloured markings on the pieces.

In her review of the exhibition, which I didn't get to see, New Zealand Herald writer Helen Schamroth noted the work consisted of two groups, large generously proportioned bowls and tiny perfume bottles. Fortunately for me, one of the tiny perfume bottles didn't sell in Auckland, and so formed part of Little Jewels in Wellington.

Elizabeth had taken up appointment in September 1993 at Carrington as Lecturer in Glass. What I didn't realise then, and indeed not until a decade later, was that this was her second period in New Zealand. 

Elizabeth McClure was born in Lanark, Scotland, and qualified in Glass Design at Edinburgh College of Art. She worked for a number of UK glassmakers, ranging from Wedgwood Glass to Michael Harris's Isle of Wight Glass, and also taught glass courses in Sunderland, Dublin and Tokyo. In 1985-6 she taught and worked as a designer of glass in Japan.

During this period Elizabeth had a number of contacts with New Zealand and New Zealanders, meeting Kiwis in the UK and, through NZSAG, corresponding with several NZ glass artists including Ann Robinson. Elizabeth's sister had come to live in Wellington, and in December 1986 Elizabeth came to visit her. When she arrived, there was a Sunbeam glass show at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt.  She was impressed by the scale and the competency of the work, and renewed her contact with Ann Robinson.  She went to Auckland, where John Croucher and Ann met her and showed her the Sunbeam premises, which she loved it.   Ann was especially pleased to meet another woman glass blower, in what was largely a man's field in New Zealand at the time.

A  number of New Zealand polytechnics had set up craft and design courses.  Only Whanganui had glass specifically, but if there was a kiln, then work with glass was feasible.  Elizabeth had trained and worked in all sorts of glass media, and was able to turn her hand to almost anything.  The Crafts Council sponsored her as a visiting glass artist.  They paid her fare to Invercargill where she started.  Southland paid for her to get to Dunedin, who paid for her to get to Nelson, and so on.  From Nelson she went to Christchurch, Wellington (which didn’t have a design school), Whanganui, Hawkes Bay, Hamilton, Auckland for a NZSAG workshop, and to Northland, though that one fell through.  Elizabeth then based herself in Auckland, using the facilities at Sunbeam, including being able to blow some big pieces - until then her work had been mostly small, because she had access only to small facilities. 

Klaus Moje at the Canberra School of Glass wanted to reduce his teaching hours, and Elizabeth was invited to go to Canberra, initially for three months, after which she returned to New Zealand. Klaus asked her back because another staffer left, and what was initially three months turned into a year, then two and then three. Elizabeth maintained her New Zealand connections - both Ann Robinson and John Croucher went over to teach courses at ANU, as did Rena Jarosewitsch (for whom see my 2009 blog New Zealand Glass: Rena Jarosewitsch Continues to Delight.)

Then in 1993 Elizabeth came back to New Zealand, to be involved in the setting up of the glass course at Carrington, as Lecturer in Glass. For reasons too complex to describe here, things didn't work out and she left Carrington at the beginning of 1995, but in that time she taught and influenced quite a number of New Zealand's present day glass artists. Since then, she has followed a New Zealand-based but wide-ranging career as glass artist and as teacher of glass.

In 1997, Elizabeth McClure was awarded a three month Fellowship at the Creative Glass Centre in New Jersey. While there, she  blew about 150 'blanks', with a view to cold working these when she returned to New Zealand. The last 40 or so of those pieces formed the wonderful solo exhibition 'Seasons of Change' at the Dowse Art Museum that resulted from her receiving the inaugural Thomas Foundation Glass Award in 2001. I was delighted to purchase the piece above at that exhibition. It's 18cm wide. 

Australian curator Grace Cochrane write a most insightful essay about Elizabeth's work and career, which was published to celebrate the Thomas Foundation Glass Award.

The third piece of Elizabeth's glass in my collection was made in February 2003.  'Marui sculpture #3' shows Elizabeth's ongoing sensitivity to the Japanese aesthetic, as well as her amazing patience in the cold work treatment she frequently gives her surfaces. Perhaps appropriately, it was part of an exhibition at Masterworks' waterfront gallery timed to coincide with the America's Cup races in 2003, entitled Showing Off. It is 5.5cm in diameter.

Pâte de Verre by Sue Treanor and Sue Hawker

I recently bought this piece of pâte de verre glass on TradeMe. It was made by Sue Treanor, probably towards the end of the 1990s. Sue exhibited at an exhibition I remember seeing in Parliament in Wellington in 1999, organised by the NZ Society of Artists in Glass as a promotional vehicle, and she also had a show at Avid in Wellington in August 1999.

Sue Treanor enrolled for a diploma in glass at UNITEC in 1994, amongst a group of students who became quite  distinguished glass artists. In August 1996 there was an exhibition entitled ‘Maiden glass: UNITEC girlz come out’ at the Glass Arts Gallery in Ponsonby, a regrettably short lived gallery with quite close links to the UNITEC campus at Carrington. As well as Sue Treanor, those exhibiting were Lou Pendergrast, Nicole Lucas, Megan Tidmarsh, Kellee Cook, and Layla Walter.

In 1999, Sue Treanor had a piece selected for exhibition at 'International Expo 2' held in Tampa, Florida by the prestigious Glass Art Society of USA. (Former Aussie,  now Whanganui artist, Claudia Borella was also included in that exhibition). I have only a poor image of that piece, from an online catalogue, but I want to include it here because it was entitled 'For Marea', a tribute to Maori glass artist Marea Timoko, who has been a significant influence on several New Zealand artists in pâte de verre (and other glass forms). Marea was  brought in to give some specialist workshops by Elizabeth McClure, then was Lecturer in Glass at UNITEC.

It's probably time to explain, to the best of my ability as a non-practitioner, what pâte de verre is. Literally 'glass paste' in French, pâte de verre involves making a paste of glass that is applied to the surface of a mold, then fired at a relatively low temperature - 'warm' glass. The advantage is that this allows precise placement of particular glass colors in the mold, unlike other methods of filling the mold, where some shifting of glass from where it has been placed prior to firing can take place.  Pâte de verre dates back to the ancient Egyptians, but it was revived by a group of French artists in the late nineteenth century who provided the modern name for this technique. (For the curious, la pâte is paste, while le pâté is what you make from chicken liver and other things).

Sadly Sue Treanor died in March 2012, so I have not been able to talk with her about her work. However, there is another Sue who makes pâte de verre who is very much alive, and living quite close to me in Northland.

(photo: Ron Hawker)

Born in Christchurch, Sue Hawker had an international career in journalism and business, but has now settled in Kerikeri (who can blame her for that?) and follows her passion for glass and ceramics. Beginning in 2004, she took applied arts papers at Northland Polytech, and like Sue Treanor was one of a group  of students who have become established artists. She also had as a tutor the same Marea Timoko who influenced Sue Treanor.

Sue Hawker has won a number of awards for her glass, most notably being the winner of the prestigious trans-Tasman Ranamok Glass Prize in 2010 - she was also a Ranamok Finalist in 2009, 2011 and 2012. This remarkable
Ranamok winning piece of pâte de verre 'Too Much is Never Enough' is half a metre high, compared with the rather more modest size of Sue Treanor's piece, which is 13cm high.

Fortunately for me, Sue Hawker makes smaller works, too, and I am delighted to have a piece of her pâte de verre in my collection, which she made in 2012. It is 11 cm high.

Lots of Glass Doings

Recently I had a very enjoyable extended road trip to the South Island, culminating on my way back home with participation in the AGM and Conference of the New Zealand Society of Artists in Glass and the Wanganui Festival of Glass.

While my trip was about more than only glass, I did explore all sorts of exhibitions, collections and installations which offered me many new experiences in glass, yielded a lot of new information and offered me a number of opportunities to add to my collection. I'm planning to share the results of that trip in my blog over the next few weeks.

 

I don't propose to tell you what these rather varied images are - all will be revealed in forthcoming posts

NZ Society Artists in Glass Conference at Glassplant, Inglewood April 1983

The New Zealand Society of Artists in Glass was founded in August 1980 at the first New Zealand Glassworkers' Symposium held in Taradale. The next year the first NZSAG Conference was held at The Hot Glass Company in Devonport.  Since then, NZSAG has held a conference every other year, where glass artists meet to discuss and demonstrate their work.  An important element of these conferences has often been the invitation to international glass artists to come to talk, to teach, to demonstrate, as one way for New Zealand artists to augment their skills. The Devonport conference was attended by Americans Richard Marquis and Ed Carpenter, in hot glass and flat glass respectively.

In April 1983 NZSAG held its Conference at the Glass Plant in Inglewood, the studio of Tony Kuepfer. This coincided with the holding of the first major exhibition of art glass in New Zealand, Pacific Glass '83 at the Govett Brewster Gallery in New Plymouth.  The exhibition and the conference marked a major milestone in the development of glass art in New Zealand, and in public perception of it as a new and vibrant art form.

Rear (standing): Marvin Lipofksy; unknown cameraman; Peter Viesnik; Jenny Granville (obscured); Mel Simpson; Holly Sanford (yellow); Julie Podjursky (Peterson); Ken Cooke (behind by door); Johannes Schreiter (behind); Peter Minson; Ede Horton (behind with mug); Linley Adams (Main); Jo Shroff; ; unknown (behind); Libby Gray; Piers Anderson (behind); Victoria Noble; Robert Middlestead (obscured); John Croucher; Rob Hooper (waving); Pat Grove-Hill; Roger Pemberton; Fred Daden (back turned); Marg Osbourne (leaning on sign)

 Front (kneeling): Keith Rowe; John Abbott; Tony Kuepfer; Makoto Ito; a gap ; Lyn McLean; James Walker; unknown; Garry Nash; John Leggott (with apple); Ann Robinson (with the milk for tea); Marg Osbourne (with camera)

Serendipitously I recently came across some photographs taken at the conference by Tim Edwards, then an architecture student writing a thesis on 'Art in Architecture', who took lots of photos with a view to using them in his thesis work.  Now an antique dealer in Wellington (excellentantiques.co.nz), Tim kindly provided me with copies of some 70 of his slides. I've been in correspondence with quite a number of those who were at the conference, as well as some who weren't, and with their help I have identified most of those in the photos.  In particular, two group photographs posed outside the converted former church that was Glassplant present pretty much a who was who of NZ glass at the time (though a number of people either couldn't attend, or were somewhere else when these photos were taken). Many of these people are still active in glass 29 years later, some are no longer working, and one or two are deceased.  The photos include international guest lecturers Fred Daden (UK), Makoto Ito (Japan), Marvin Lipofsky (USA), Johannes Schreiter (Germany), and Australians Peter Minson and Keith Rowe (in fact a Kiwi, but a long time Oz glass artist).  Ito, Lipofsky and Schreiter were among the exhibitors in Pacific Glass '83.  The two photos are similar, but there are some people in one and not the other, so I include them both.

Rear (standing): Marvin Lipofksy; David Clegg (cap); Peter Viesnik; Jenny Granville (peeking); unknown; Mel Simpson; Holly Sanford (yellow); Julie Podjursky Peterson; Ken Cooke (behind); Johannes Schreiter (behind); Peter Minson; Ede Horton (behind); Linley Adams/Main; Jo Shroff; Libby Gray; Piers Anderson (behind); Victoria Noble; John Croucher; Rob Hooper (beard); Pat Grove-Hill; Fred Daden; Marg Osbourne (with camera)

Front (kneeling): John Abbott; Tony Kuepfer; Makoto Ito;  a gap ; Lyn McLean; unknown; Garry Nash; John Leggott (with apple)

It's been great fun trying to identify these photos accurately.  I accept sole responsibility if I have got something wrong, or if someone I should have picked is labelled 'unknown'; please let me know so I can make any necessary corrections.  I am very grateful to Tim Edwards for permission to publish his photos.