Holly Sanford

Working with good glass is like painting with light. The luminosity, shading and subtleties within the sheet are part of the palette. And the end result glows like no ordinary canvas.

- Holly Sanford, 2017

Holly Sanford is an artist based in Devonport, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, who has over 40 years of experience as a glass designer, and has been self-employed since 1998. While predominantly specialising in glass, she has also created works with paper, ceramic, and textiles. She has completed numerous workshops with international glass artists and maintained a consistent practice as a glass artist since the 1970s, completing works for exhibition, private and public commissions.

Born in Connecticut, USA, Sanford studied art at Boston University, Massachusetts in the 1960s before undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating in 1970. In 1974 she and husband Peter relocated to Aotearoa New Zealand, becoming New Zealand citizens in the 1980s.

In 1977 Sanford and fellow craft artists including Evan Williams, Perry Davies, Susan Holmes and Sally Vinson formed the co-op "Compendium Gallery" on Fleet Street, Devonport. The gallery was later taken on, moved and made into a contemporary commercial gallery by Pamela Elliott in the early 1980s.

From 1987-91 Sanford worked as a glass design tutor at Carrington Polytechnic, Auckland. Soon after this she spent time living and working in south-east Asia, spending time and creating works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1991-96) and Hanoi, Vietnam (1996-98).

Her first significant public commission may have been a window for St Oswald’s Anglican Church (Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill) in 1982. Subsequent, and much larger public commissions include window works for the University of Auckland (1983), Hamilton City Council (1985), the Auckland District Court (1987) and the Edmiston Screen at the Aotea Centre (1989). She has also completed commissions using double-glazing, where overlapping patterns also improve building insulation, combining her twin concerns for art and environment.

Her current explorations are with painting, a medium that is free from the confines of glass. While she is no longer working in glass, she retains her love of colour and serendipity mixed with structure.

See also:

• Holly Sanford (artist’s website)