A Mahy Pahi Postscript

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

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'.

Lino Tagliapietra, Italian Glass Master at Sunbeam Glass

Lino Tagliapietra was born in Murano in 1934, and has a long career as a maestro in making glass.  Significantly, through his connection with Dale Chihuhly, he fostered the process of sharing the Muranesi glass making skills, until then closely guarded secrets, with the wider world.  Lino taught at Pilchuck in Washington in 1979, and undertook teaching, classes and demonstrations in many parts of the world.

In 1990 Garry Nash and NZSAG arranged for Lino to give a masterclass at Garry's Sunbeam Glass studio in Ponsonby.  I was thrilled to have an opportunity to visit one of the sessions at Garry's invitation.  Lino made a number of pieces during his time here, and I was delighted recently to be able to add one of those to my collection after it was offered on TradeMe.

This dolphin goblet is a classic example of Venetian glass making, but it is signed Lino Tagliapietra NZ 90.  It's made in clear glass, but the eyes are red murrini with white centres.  It's just under 20 cms high.

 After I bought it, I asked Garry and Peter Viesnik, who was NZSAG President in 1990 what they could tell me about it.  Peter replied: 'this was the one goblet Lino made that I really wanted to buy and Danny Keighley beat me to it by asking Lino if he could buy it before they were put up for sale in Garry's workshop! I was very disappointed.  Was it Danny who sold it?'

It was indeed Danny Keighley, but I confess I was not familiar with the name. You live and learn.  Danny was part of the original Sunbeam Cooperative of John Croucher and James Walker.  He has told me he blew glass for some years from the 'Egg Furnace'.  Danny said: 'John Croucher was probably my best guide initially, and we struggled to 'wrench' shapes from glass when we should perhaps have been more fluid in our approach - but we did some good work.  I took on the role around 1980 of touring the country with boxes of mediocre glass vessels blown by everybody and persuading craft shops to take one or two.  Their interest grew, but was minimal initially.'

Danny has told me more as well, but this blog is supposed to be about Lino.  The remarkable thing about that Sunbeam workshop was that not only was Lino there, but also two American master glass makers who had learned with him at Pilchuck, Dante Marioni and Dick Marquis. I was too new to the world of glass to understand then just how significant this was, but as Garry has said the workshop is still talked about today among glass artists, several of whom were greatly influenced by their exposure to these masters.  I have a dolphin goblet Garry made in 1990 directly as a result of that influence.  Sadly it has come apart, so I can't include a photo, but it's still a treasured piece.

James Walker 1948 - 2011

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 seminar in Hawkes Bay, where he taught a class in glass etching, James decided to quit Sunbeam and pursue a career in architectural glass. He did well, working a lot with architect Ian Athfield, until things went pear shaped in the 1987 stock market crash.

James participated in the NZSAG run workshops by overseas artists including Ed Carpenter, and also met German artists Ludwig Shaffrath and Johannes Schreiter in Melbourne - he worked as teaching assistant for Schreiter, and both Germans were to be significant influences.

Attendance at Pilchuck in 1989 lead to contacts with Czech artists Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova, and from 1992 James lived and worked in the Czech Republic working in a range of media, but especially creating sculptures in cast glass.

James returned to New Zealand in 2004, and settled in Wairoa. In 2007 he was the William Hodges Fellow at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in Invercargill, where he continued work he had developed in the Czech Republic, including a fascination with the diagonal yellow stripes used as warning symbols in Czechoslovakia. He is pictured at left with 'VenusMaximus'.

Sadly, James developed mesothelioma, attributed to his working with asbestos in his early glass days in Auckland. He died in the Hastings Hospice on April 5th surrounded by family and friends.

I first made contact with James after he returned to New Zealand in 2004, when he visited me and viewed my collection. He was generous with information in a long interview I had with him, and he continued to keep in touch by email, readily answering questions about glass history and offering information. As Grace Cochrane, Evelyn Dunstan and I were working on our texts for New Zealand Glass Art, James was immensely helpful in providing information, comment and corrections.

James Walker will be sadly missed.

A New Home for my Glass

At long last I have created the space to house and work on my collection. A new studio addition to my home provides space for the glass collection, and also makes my house more toddler - friendly, so it should be possible for those grandsons to visit. And it means I can show my collection to glass enthusiasts who may care to call.


In moving the glass into its new home (a work in progress - the new shelving hasn't arrived yet), I have rediscovered some old friends, as well as getting a few surprises at pieces I had forgotten. The plan is that this will also result in more blogging, with these newly found old pieces to write about. I have better facilities for photography, too, so hopefully that will improve as well.

So here as a teaser is a fairly remarkable piece, made in Taranaki in the 1980s. I'll tell you more about it in a future blog.