Garry Nash

Garry Nash ONZM was born in Sydney, Australia. He moved to New Zealand in 1973 and became a citizen in 1998. Garry has been working with hot glass for more than a quarter century. In 2001 he was made an Officer of The New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for his services to Glass Art. He is an honorary life member and a past President of the New Zealand Society of Artists in Glass. Nash has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, USA and Japan. Today he continues to operate his own Auckland studio pursuing his own personal exploration of the glass medium. Nash has developed an international reputation through the strength and quality of his work in the Art Glass medium. His work is held in the permanent collections of PriceWaterhouse Coopers, New Zealand; BNZ Bank, New Zealand; ANZ Bank, New Zealand; New Zealand Insurance; Connections, Borowsky, USA; Glaxo Collection, New Zealand; Kensington Swan Collection, New Zealand; David and Barbara Thomas, Australia; Leaders Gifts APEC, Auckland, New Zealand and The Ausralian Art Trust.

Garry Nash's glass vessel forms are the result of over two decades of fervent exploration within the medium of molten glass. Working in the relative isolation of New Zealand, unencumbered by rigid parochial European traditions of glass style and technique, has allowed him the freedom to develop a unique style reflecting the New Zealand environment. More recently he has been developing a series of sculptural forms incorporating glass.

'I have an intense interest in the rich history of glass making and have drawn impartially from its long, rich and varied past. Being able to combine a technique from sixteenth-century Venice and blow it in an eighteenth-century English style is one of the great joys of being involved in the studio glass movement. I continually push the boundaries of hot glass in terms of scale to achieve an architectural presence with my work. This is one area of hot glass traditionally ignored that modern technology has made possible. Colour is the corner stone of the studio glass movement. I combine colour and form in my work to invoke an emotional response'. Garry Nash