New Wairoa Gallery

Loop Glass is a local business run by Frances Woodhead offering a welcoming and inspiring destination for visitors After long years of creating for a busy shop and honing her skills in Nelson and Scotland, Frances is hoping that the new studio and new pace of life in Wairoa will allow new work to spring forth.

Combining work experience in environmental management with a passion for glass, the use of recycled glass provides technical limitations that help to shape and inspire the work creating both playful and functional items within a familiar natural palette.

New Zealand to Tiree and Back

My journey with glass began in 2003 I was employed to develop a glass recycling social enterprise in Liverpool alongside training young people. Returning to Nelson in 2005 I set up Nelson Glasshouse, a studio in the South Island

In 2009 I packed my kiln and moved to Tiree to be with the man I love, establishing Tiree Glass in April 2011. Life was very seasonal, everything happened in the summer, and the winter was a time of retreat and renewal, developing new ideas and making for the season ahead. The winter allowed for experimentation and hours spent on the beaches whenever there was a break in the wild Hebridean weather.

In 2019 we made the big move back to New Zealand and settled in Wairoa.

Frances Woodhead one page CV

Art and Social Practice

While living on Tiree I studied Art and Social Practice by video conference with the University of the Highlands and Islands in their Shetland College. Led by Roxane Permar the course covered latest developments and best practice in this area as well as inspiring and guiding hands on practical experience - all by video conference!  A course requirement was documenting progress in a weblog, entries from which feature below.