Auction to showcase glass festival

The Wanganui Glass Group has unveiled its plans for the September Wanganui Festival of Glass, where it will again showcase the city as a centre of glass excellence.

Wanganui Glass Group (WGG) chair Lynne Vinsen said this was an opportunity for locals to embrace the sixth glass festival, which was putting Wanganui on the national arts map and building on the city's fast-growing reputation as a prime destination for New Zealand glass art.

Many of New Zealand's world-renowned, award-winning glass artists were based in Wanganui.

"The city is proudly home to the Wanganui Glass School, New Zealand's only independent glass school offering nationally unique full-time tertiary studies in glass."

Mrs Vinsen added that the Festival of Glass provided artists with an ideal platform to showcase their work to national and international audiences.

This year's action-packed festival will, for the first time, kick off with A Fragile World - opening night and glass art auction that will be held at the Sarjeant Gallery on September 17.

The auction was a rare opportunity for people to view and purchase a diverse range of art glass pieces while also supporting local artists and Wanganui's glass industry.

"It's also a really great way to raise money for a worthy cause and to launch this year's festival, which is set to be the biggest and best yet," Mrs Vinsen said.

Funds raised at the auction will go to Hospice Wanganui and the glass group to further develop New Zealand's glass art industry.

A new highlight of this year's festival is the schools programme that the glass group will be running in conjunction with Wanganui Glass School.

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The school will open its doors and offer Wanganui's school children the unique opportunity to learn all about glass art, from concept and design stages through to production.

Two leading international glass artists, David Reekie from the United Kingdom and Nick Mount from Australia, will hold workshops during the festival.

A major ongoing attraction is the Victoria Ave exhibition of glass in shop windows, which will be displayed throughout the festival.

For more on the Wanganui Glass Group and the Wanganui Festival of Glass: http://www.wanganuiglass.co.nz Wanganui Festival of Glass is a part of the REAL Whanganui Festival which runs from September 9 to October 23. REAL Whanganui is part of the nationwide REAL New Zealand Festival, which showcases New Zealand's arts, food and wine, heritage, culture and entertainment with hundreds of events during the Rugby World Cup 2011.