About

Thomas Barter graduated with a BFA from CSU Humboldt in 1988. He had been working since then as a professional artist specializing in hand made ceramic murals and ceramic sculpture. Upon graduation he spent 6 months at the Moravian pottery and tile works as an artist in residence. Here he learned the art of handmaking tiles. With an interest in installations and site-specific artwork he started to combine tile making into larger site specific works.

Over the last twenty years Thomas has completed dozens of public commissions as well as many private works. He has also been active in teaching and currently is the Visual Arts Teacher at Saint Kentigern Boys’ school.

Thomas started his career in Sacramento California and made several pieces for the city of Sacramento. He then moved to southern California. His works in the Los Angeles area include two tile fountains for the Municipal Water District of Southern California at Union Station in LA, as well as murals, facades, and sculptures for the city of Long Beach.

Thomas moved to New Zealand with his family in 2003 where he still resides. He has made and installed several artworks around Auckland City. And continues to make and install new works regularly. In 2010 Thomas took a class in glass casting. This changed the direction of his practice to away from Ceramics to glass

Thomas’s first works in glass were mostly flat back castings that were like his tile work at the time. He, however, was also interested in how to make some simple 3D forms. Part of his ceramic expertise is mold making so the transition into lost wax casting happened quickly. Thomas now almost exclusively uses cast glass as his medium of choice. 

Further to the development of origami objects he is working on a new direction involving the use of a repeated cast glass art deco element that are built into larger glass objects. His studio is in Auckland New Zealand and is happy to have visitors and give tours of his premises.

Murray is a life long supporter of NZ glass.

Lauren Hunt is an accomplished artist and educator with over 17 years of experience in glassblowing. She discovered her passion for glass art at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Following graduation, she accepted a position in Corning, New York, launching her career at the prestigious Corning Museum of Glass. There, she honed her craft as part of the Hot Glass Show and the unique Blow Glass at Sea program, showcasing her talent to audiences around the world.

Hunt's glass art draws deeply from her years of travel while performing aboard Celebrity Cruise ships, where ever-changing landscapes and cultures shaped her creative vision. Her current work emphasizes color and form, blending artistry and precision to craft balanced, thoughtfully designed pieces.

In the United States, Hunt has both taught and created at renowned institutions such as The Corning Museum of Glass, Penland School of Craft, and The Lost Pines Art Center. Since moving to New Zealand, she has embraced new teaching opportunities, sharing her expertise at Amokura Glass in Rotorua and Monmouth Glass Studio in Auckland.

Currently based in Auckland, New Zealand, Lauren Hunt works as a glass fabricator while balancing multiple roles within the glass art community. She serves as an instructor, studio assistant, and dedicated artist.

Emma has been working in glass in NZ since 1991. She is the co-owner of Melt45, who are the distributors of Gaffer Glass to Australasia. She is a Full-time glass caster, who lives in Whanganui (the glass city of NZ). Where her and her partner David Murray run their practice from the old masonic. Emma’s work is included in the collections of Te Papa & the Auckland Museum, as well and many others around the world. We are very excited to have Emma leading the team!

Vicki Fanning is a ceramist and glass artist from Matakana. She has been working with Glass since 2001 where she studied at Whanganui Ucol. She is known for her flameworking sculptures based on various inherit qualities of glass. But is now focusing on lead lighting, and the ability glass has to carry a message to the masses.
Although she has been remotely involved in NZSAG in the past, she is now delighted to be involved with the current committee.

@frolicceramics @vickifanningglassnz

Heather fell in love with glass when she took her first glass blowing class in 2007 at Crystal Forge in Omaha, USA. Learning under Ed Fennel, Heather not only learned the basics of blowing glass but was also inspired to look up other glass artists and techniques. Moving to Minnesota for college, Heather began a mentorship under David Royce at Foci, Minnesota’s Center for Glass Art, and then took a year to study abroad at Tokyo Glass Arts Institute in Tokyo, Japan. Returning to the USA in 2010, spent the next 7 years working and taking classes at the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, at Bullseye Glass, California, at Pittsburgh Glass Center and at Foci Glass, Minnesota. In each of these places Heather was able to learn different techniques— blowing, carving, casting, coldworking, flame working, fusing, murrini, neon, rolling up, sand casting and sculpting—which she has perfected and uses in her work. In 2017, Heather decided to move back to New Zealand and take over the glass studio De Flute Glass in Rotorua which has been operating as Amokura Glass ever since. Now she works as an artist, runs the studio and gallery, and teaches glass blowing classes.