Kathy Shaw-Urlich
Kathy Shaw-Urlich designs and makes stained glass panels for architecture, interiors and exhibitions.
Kathy Shaw-Urlich designs and makes stained glass panels for architecture, interiors and exhibitions, using a variety of applied techniques; painting, etching, sandblasting and slumping on coloured and float glass. Designs are figurative, abstract and decorative, incorporating found elements, textures, salvaged glass fragments, metal, shell and other materials.
Kathy Shaw-Urlich - Stained Glass Artist
Kathy Shaw-Urlich (Ngati Hao/ Te Uri o Te Aho o Ngapuhi), Associate of the British Society of Master Glass Painters, MFA & HND Architectural Stained Glass has been based in London where she has carried out stained glass commissions and taught in various colleges.
Although she was born and brought up in the UK her connections with her Maori heritage have always been important to her and she has returned as often as possible over the last 27 years. She is now married to Rapata Urlich, Ngati Kahu, Te Whanau Moana. In late 2007 she is returning to Aotearoa to rebuild her house and studio at Ahipara and settle there.
In 1990, her first solo exhibition at the NZ High Commission London was to honour the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi and in 1992 she held another exhibition 'Te Po me Te Ao' at the Commonwealth Institute in London, inspired by her meeting with Maori Marsden and senior artists such as Colleen Waata Urlich, Manos Nathan, John Bevan Ford and Para Matchitt.
In 1998, her whanau at Whakapara asked her to make a stained glass altar window for their church and this was installed at Christmas 1999. In 2004, her etched and painted panel 'Karakia' dedicated to Rahera Heta Windsor, (1924 -2004) kuia for Ngati Ranana, was selected for the New Glass Review 26 by the Corning Museum New York. In 2006, her panel 'Maori Woman' was used as cover for Big Belly Woman's new CD 'Dignity'. In July-August 2007, she will exhibit new panels 'Paradise Lost' with her colleague Tim Cunliffe at the Cochrane Glass Gallery in Central London.
In 2006 Kathy facilitated a stained glass project with members of Ngati Ranana, London's Maori Club to create a panel for permanent exhibition at the New Zealand High Commission in London.
In returning to the Far North of Aotearoa, Kathy hopes to continue her stained glass work and teaching as well as skill sharing with whanau and other groups wishing to make stained glass windows for their buildings.
"Although stained glass originated in the Middle Ages and established itself in the medieval churches of Europe, it can draw from this history while still offering exciting potential as a contemporary medium. I feel that its strong mix of lead lines, glass, paint and texture lends its qualities to our stories, images and ways of being."
~ Kathy Shaw-Urlich
CV Highlights
July-Aug 2007 'Paradise Lost' exhibition with Tim Cunliffe,Cochrane Gallery,London
2006 'Whanaungatanga' panel with Ngati Ranana , NZ High Commission, London
2006 'Maori Woman' panel CD cover 'Dignity' by Big Belly Woman
2005 'Karakia' panel to Rahera Heta Windsor, Selected for New Glass Review 26
1999 Whakapara Church, altar window
1998 MFA,(Transparent Media) Central St Martins School of Art
1998 Trinity Project, Maidstone, Pilgrimage panels, St Peter's, Vauxhall
1997 Inaugural window, Human Genome Campus, UK. Wellcome Trust
1996 Central Theatre, Chatham, Bar, Foyer and stairwell windows
1995 'Lightways' Video/Stained Glass 'Light & Landscape in Lincolnshire'
1993 N. Westminster Community School 'Dance & Drama'
1992 'Te Po me Te Ao' Commonwealth Institute ( Greater London Arts Award)
1991 Arthur & Helen Davis Travelling Scholarship to research Czech Glass
1990 Treaty of Waitangi exhibition, NZ High Commission, London
1989 Howard Martin Award, Best student , HND Architectural Stained Glass, Swansea
1988 Joint first prize, Hetley Hartley Woods Stained Glass Competition, UK
Links
View Gallery of Artwork by Kathy Shaw-Urlich