When I came up with the initial concept of Riverside Gallery, one of the first things I knew was that I wanted to showcase art glass (the other was ceramics). Why art glass? Well, I think I developed a love of glass from quite a young age. My mother had some lovely coloured glass that I was always captivated by. She had a selection of mid-century vases as well as some beautiful decanters and glassware. I still hold memories of these unique pieces, which goes to show just how much art glass can evoke emotion and create memories.
Later on in life I spent some time living in Italy where, of course, there was amazing art glass to be found. I discovered the cased glass vases and genie bottles of Empoli which started me off on collecting colourful pieces from mid-century Europe. Then there was the refined elegance of blown glass, in particular Murano glass, which I absolutely fell in love with. I still have some of the Murano glass pieces that I bought back then, and have now also continued to collect mid-century glass from producers like Riihimaki, Holmegaard and Whitefriars (some of which make their way into the gallery 😊).
And now, how exciting it is to see a blossoming art glass movement happening in New Zealand! There are some super talented artists working with blown glass, cast glass, and fused glass and I am loving discovering these works. Soooo, it is with great pleasure that I can now present the first glass exhibition to be shown at the gallery!!
See you soon,
Andie