Garry Nash, 2014. Image by Maggie Gould.

Biography

Garry Nash has been working with hot glass since 1978 and is one of the pioneers of the studio glass movement in New Zealand. He joined Sunbeam Glassworks in Auckland 1981 as a full-time glass artist and acquired ownership of Sunbeam seven years later. Today he continues to operate the studio as Nash Glass, pursuing his own personal exploration of the glass medium.

Garry has developed an international reputation through the strength and quality of his work in the Art-Glass realm. He is an honorary life member and past President of the New Zealand Society of Artists in Glass.

Garry also served as a local body politician as deputy chairman of Western Bays Community Board, Auckland 1989-92.

In 2001, he was made an Officer of The New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for his services to Glass Art.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My current work is a result of nearly four decades of fervent exploration within the medium of molten glass. The skills acquired during this uninterrupted period have allowed me to have at my fingertips techniques that were inconceivable when I started working with glass. Working in the relative isolation of New Zealand, unemcumbered by rigid parochial European traditions of glass style and technique, gave me the freedom to develop a unique style reflecting the New Zealand environment.

I have an strong 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 try to 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, and one 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 evoke an emotional response.

Garry Nash, 2006

Solo Shows

2014

'Neon Sign 2' Pataka Museum of Art and Design, Pataka, NZ

‘Cultivate’ Form Gallery, Christchurch, NZ

2013

‘Neon Sign’ The Pah Homestead/The Wallace Arts Trust, NZ

2011

‘New Work’ Solo Showcase at Te Papa Store, Wellington, NZ

2010

‘Janus’ Real Aotearoa, Wellington, NZ

‘New Work’ Form Gallery, Christchurch, NZ

2006

Selected Objects in Sequence’, Milford Galleries Dunedin, NZ

2005

‘Private Collection’ Milford Galleries Dunedin, NZ

Koru. Page One. Taipei, Taiwan

2004

Form Gallery Christchurch, NZ

2002

Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland, NZ

Gallery V.C., Queenstown, NZ

2001

Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ

Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ

2000

Form Gallery, Christchurch, NZ

1999

Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ “Two Decades of Glass”

1998

Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ

1997

Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ

Form Gallery, Christchurch, NZ

1996

Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ

1994

Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ

1993

Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ

1992

Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, NZ

Despard Street Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

1990

Compendium Gallery, Auckland, NZ

1989

Villas Gallery, Wellington, NZ

1988

Kurland Summers Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

Hamilton Glass Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Beaver Galleries, Canberra, Australia

1987

Cross Creek Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

Elaine Potter Gallery, San Fransisco, USA

Maurine Littleton Gallery, Washington, USA

Chicago New Art Forms Exposition, USA

1986

Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, NZ

1985

Show Case Exhibition, Craft Council Gallery, Wellington, NZ

1984

Glass Artist Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Compendium Gallery, Auckland, NZ

1983

Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru, NZ

1981

Dennis Cohen Gallery, Auckland, NZ

Group Shows

2015

White Night, Remuera, own installation of 'From Chaos to Order' and also as part of 'The Neon Collective'

2014

Art in the Dark, as part of 'The Neon Collective', Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ

'Sprout 2' Remuera Gallery, Auckland, NZ

2013

Art in the Dark, Ponsonby, Auckland, NZ

'Sprout' Guest MANZ artist, Auckland Botanic Gardens, Auckland, NZ

2012

‘Electric Glass’ The Pah Homestead/The Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland NZ

2011

‘Laisee’ Koru HK, Aberdeen, Hong Kong, NZ

2010

NZSAG Members Show, Essenze, Auckland, NZ

‘New Work’ Waiheke Island Art Gallery, NZ

2009

‘Masterworks’ Milford Galleries Dunedin, NZ

2008

‘Shape Shifter’, Wellington NZ

‘Sculpture OnShore’ Fort Takapuna, NZ

2007

‘Masterworks’ Milford Galleries Dunedin, NZ

2006

‘Sculpture OnShore’ Fort Takapuna, NZ

‘Masterworks’ Milford Galleries NZ

2005

‘Glass Invitational’ Milford Galleries Dunedin, toured to Auckland Museum, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch and Pataka Museum of Art & Culture, Porirua, Wellington

2004

‘3-Dimensional Sculpture – Glasss/Ceramics’ Milford House Galleries Dunedin

‘Southern Exposure’, Glasmuseet, Ebeltoft, Denmark

‘NZ Garden Sculpture and Outdoor Art’ Auckland NZ.

‘Shape Shifter’ Wellington, NZ

2003

Bark Modern Art Gallery, Hong Kong “Art Out There” Outdoor Sculpture exhibition, Ellerslie Auckland The Touch House of Art & Design, Singapore “Seaview” Singapore

2002

Glass Invitational NZ, touring Milford House Galleries, NZ ‘NZ Garden Sculpture and Outdoor Art’, Auckland, NZ

‘Five Sydney Years’ Australian Art Resources, Sydney Australia

2000

‘NZ Garden Sculpture and Outdoor Art’, Auckland, NZ

1999

Axia Modern Art “3 Perspectives in Glass”, Melbourne, Australia

Axia Modern Art “Best of NZ glass”, Melbourne , Australia

Ausglass, Members Exhibition, Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery, Australia

Ausglass, “Quoting Others”, Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery, Australia,

Opening Exhibition, National Art Glass Gallery, Australia

1998

“NZ Garden Sculpture and Outdoor Art”, Auckland, NZ

“The International Exhibition of Glass”, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan

1997

“Art in Glass 97″ Editions Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

1996

“Art in Glass 96″ Editions Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

1995

“Glass Now 95″, Japan, touring

1994

“The Cutting Edge”, Glass Triennial, Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, Australia

“Glass Now 94″, Japan, touring

1993

“Glass Now 93″, Japan, touring

1992

Despard Street Gallery Booth, Chicago New Art Forms Exposition, USA

1990

“Glass Now 90″, Japan, touring

1989

“Glass Now 89″, Japan, touring

1988

“World Glass Now”, Museum of Modern Art, Hokaido, Japan

Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, USA

1987

“International Glass Invitational”, Habitat Galleries, Michigan, USA

“Glass Now 87″, Japan, touring

1986

Glass Artists Gallery, Sydney, Australia

“Glass Now 86″, Japan, touring

1985

Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, NZ

Phillips Studio Glass Exhibition, Auckland, NZ

1984

Phillips Studio Glass Exhibition, Auckland, NZ

1983

“Pacific Glass International”, NZ

“Studio Glass”, Auckland Museum, NZ

1982

“Fragile Arts”, Northern Regional Arts Council, touring, NZ

1981

“Glass 81″, Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland, NZ

1980

“Glass 80″, Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland, NZ

Selected Publications

2009

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins “The Last Bubble” (PDF); “The Listener”, New Zealand (article online)

1998

“The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa 98″, Japan, catalogue.

Front cover illustration; “Flotsam”, 1998 by Garry Nash.

Helen Shamroth, “100 New Zealand Craft Artists”, Godwit, page 59.

1997

Terence Measham, “Discovering the Powerhouse Museum”. Publication mid 1997.

1996

Photography of “Stone Vessel” by Garry Nash, New Zealand, 1996.

Craft Arts International No. 33, p48-51.

1995

Noris Ioannou, “Australian Studio Glass”, Craftsman House.

1992

Helen Schamroth, “Glass Art in New Zealand”, Neues Glass 1/92.

Tsuneo Yoshimizu, “The Survey of Glass in the World”, Kyuryudo Art Publishing, Japan.

1989

Dan Klein, “Glass, a contemporary Art”, Collins.

1988

“World Glass Now 88″, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan, catalogue.

1986 – 1995

“Glass Now”, Japan, catalogues

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Auckland Museum

The Dowse

Glass Museum, Ebeltof, Denmark

Hawkes Bay Art Gallery, NZ

Ishikawa, Design Collection, Ishikawa, Japan

Manawatu Art Gallery, NZ

Manly Art Gallery, Australia

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia

Robert McDougal Art Gallery, Christchurch, NZ

Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand

The Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland, NZ

Whangarei City Art Gallery, NZ

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

ANZ Bank Collection, NZ

BNZ Bank Collection, NZ

Connections, Borowsky Collection, USA

Glaxo Collection, NZ

Kensington Swan Collection, NZ

Leaders Gifts APEC, Auckland, NZ

PriceWaterhouseCoopers Collection, NZ

New Zealand Insurance, NZ

David and Barbara Thomas, Australia

AWARDS

2013

Craft/Object Fellowship towards writing

‘The Glass Makers Palette’ from Creative New Zealand

2011

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship

2001

Officer of The New Zealand Order of Merit

1988

UBS Sutter Craft Award, Bishop Sutter Art Gallery, NZ

1986

QEII Arts Council Award for travel to USA