New Zealand Glassworks: A great year for glass art in Whanganui

New Zealand Glassworks - Te Whare Tuhua o Te Ao in Whanganui has had an action-packed year.

Glass artists are taking a short Christmas break but will be back in action from January 7.

The Rutland St Galley is open every day and assistant Briarlee Rees said it has been busy.

"We've had a lot of out-of-town visitors and quite a few international ones as well.

"It's exciting to hear people from Europe enthusing over our local artists' work."

The Rutland St venue functions as a facility for hot and kiln glass artists, UCOL design students and as a public gallery for exhibiting local and national artists.

The gallery currently has works by local and national artists which have been created by blowing, fusing and casting.

Open to the public workshops, where participants get to craft their own paperweights, have been a popular feature throughout the year.

In February 2019, NZ Glassworks hosted the highly successful CoLab Conference.

The New Zealand Society of Artists in Glass, and its Australian counterpart Ausglass, had previously organised their conferences on alternate years and this was the first time they united for a combined conference.

The weekend event attracted international visitors and included speakers, workshops, hot glass demos, and public events including a beach furnace and dig in at Castlecliff Beach.