Glass artist Vicki Fanning unveils Upon a Moment at Whanganui's Sarjeant on the Quay

Vicki Fanning says she hopes Upon a Moment reignites interest in Whanganui's history with glass. Photo / Michael McKeagg

Three new works at Sarjeant on the Quay have helped shine a spotlight on a forgotten Whanganui legacy.

Artist Vicki Fanning is third in a line of glass workers, with her grandfather Aubrey Fanning helping to build up The Wanganui Glass Company, which began in 1920 in Keith St.

It was the main producer and distributor of etched and sandblasted doors and windows in New Zealand until it ceased operations in the mid-1980s.

That is where the story of Fanning's exhibition Upon a Moment begins.

The works are based on three designs from an old Wanganui Glass Company catalogue, featuring a stag, a ballerina and birds.

Reproductions can be seen on the wall at the Sarjeant, and serve as a reference point for sculptures on display.

Fanning said her works used a borosilicate glass that was usually reserved for scientific equipment, and arrived in rods and tubes.

"I will sit on a flame torch and make lots of pieces over a blue oxygen-fed flame, then manipulate the glass with different tools once it heats up.

"The works are sort of put together. The Dancer, for example, is made up of four different pieces."

Her father Brian Fanning worked with Brazilian quartz crystal, which was used in telecommunications for low and high frequency radio waves.

"They worked out of Wellington, and did all the government departments around New Zealand," Fanning said.

"Those crystals are still made, but synthetically. They are in our cellphones, drones, satellites, computers and laptops. It's still a major material for how we live."

Her father's career also comes to the fore in Upon a Moment.

"I really tried to make the works fluid, like they are going through time.

"There are awkward, glitchy moments in there. I've pulled out bits and imagined they've gone through technology and fibre optics.

"They are broken up then collected and put back together again."

The Wanganui Glass Company was located on Keith Street in central Whanganui. Photo / Michael McKeagg

Stencils and catalogues from the Wanganui Glass Company now live in the Sarjeant's archive, after being donated by Maggie McCloud from Central Glass.

A merger with Winstone saw the end of the Wanganui Glass name in the mid-1980s, with Winstone eventually becoming Central Glass.

"A big part of why I did this exhibition was to refresh and reignite interest in this part of Whanganui history," Fanning said.

"At one point the Wanganui Glass Company even had a showroom on Victoria Avenue. They used to change car windscreens there as well.

"If you look at the factory itself, you can see it's been extended to accommodate the growing amount of work."

Helping Fanning with research for the project was Richard Green, whose father RHB (Dick) Green managed the Wanganui Glass factory.

Green said it only handled sheet glass.

"There was no melting or blowing back then.

"That made for a fascinating range of processes, trades and crafts mostly lost with the advent of cheap imports or styles of décor that have simply gone out of fashion.

"Mirrors are no longer edged with fancy bevelling, sandblasted art deco motifs no longer embellish glass front doors and no modern church has the money or need for a lead-lighted stained glass rose window," Green said.

Fanning said Whanganui had a history in glass that it should be "really proud of".

Her father was born in the River City and she moved back temporarily to study at the polytech.

"Us glass artists always say 'wouldn't it be great if there was a glass museum in Whanganui?'

"While it's not the most beautiful building, I think the old factory on Keith Street would be the perfect place."

Upon a Moment is exhibiting at Sarjeant on the Quay until July 31.