City artists build huge stained window

Press, 24 December 1986, Page 18

City artists build huge stained window

Two Christchurch glass artists have begun work on the largest stained glass window in New Zealand. Suzanne Johnson and Ben Hanly are preparing drawings in their Arts Centre studio for the 400 panels that make up the 50m long window. They will start work on the Philip Trusttum design for the window once glass arrives from the United States, England and Germany. The window will form part of the glass canopy on the new Aurora building in Wellington’s The Terrace. It would be 20 feet above the ground when it is glazed into the building, Suzanne Johnson said. The design and the mak-

ing of the window panels had taken the scale into account, she said. The Aurora Group asked six artists to design a work for the building canopy. Suzanne Johnson and Ben Hanly were asked for their opinions on the designs but had no say in the final choice. Working with Philip Trusttum — a Christchurch artist — is not a new experience for the two glass artists. They have made about 20 windows to Trusttum designs, although the Aurora window is the largest. Philip Trusttum has called his design “Necklace” and it consists of thousands of coloured shapes and circles in a grey glass background. In the 50m window,

which has a varying height up to sm, are many pieces of glass. Suzanne Johnson estimated that the panels would take seven months to complete in Christchurch and another month to install in the building in Wellington. The pair plan to hire an extra person to help with the window commission. The contemporary design is the sort of design the glass artists wanted to work on when they first set up a studio six years ago. Then they chose the title, No Flowers, to indicate their preference for contemporary work. They have since dropped that title and their studio is called Glass Works. “We had to do a lot of

bread and butter work to get started. Now it looks like we will be able to pick and choose what we do,” Suzanne Johnson said.

They have done some quite large commissions including the glass for the

Occidental Hotel and a dome for a disco in Australia.

To concentrate on the Aurora commission the artists have deferred any other commissions.

The pair started their studio after Suzanne Johnson finished a Fine Arts degree and Ben Hanly had worked for Stewart and Co., a stained glass firm.

Earlier this year they moved into a space in the Arts Centre, and to ac-

commodate the framing needed for the Aurora project, have just taken over a second space in the complex. About the design of the window Suzanne Johnson

was a little guarded. A big launch is planned for the window’s installation next July and “just at the moment I’d like to keep the design pretty lbw key.”

The next task for the two, while waiting for the coloured glass to arrive, is to prepare the design. Tracing paper to trace the design will cost about $4OO.

"The scale of the thing is amazing. It’s hard to imagine.” The commission was made through the Wellington City Council’s arts ■bonus scheme.