Vessels created by New Zealand Glassworks' 2026 artist in residence Lewis Batchelar.
Vessels created by New Zealand Glassworks' 2026 artist in residence Lewis Batchelar.
Whanganui-based glass artist Lewis Batchelar will be the 2026 artist in residence at New Zealand Glassworks (Te Whare Tūhua o Te Ao).
Batchelar will work in New Zealand Glassworks (NZG) studio in Whanganui from July 6 to August 2.
The work he creates during the residency will be displayedat NZG in a solo exhibition in 2027.
“This residency offers the rare chance to focus deeply on experimentation,” Batchelar said.
“I want to honour glassmaking traditions while pushing the dialogue between pattern, colour and structure, creating works that feel both familiar and entirely new.”
Whanganui glass artist Lewis Batchelar, who will be New Zealand Glassworks' 2026 artist in residence, working in the hotshop.
He was selected by an independent panel of artists and gallery workers, comprising Masterworks Gallery director Eloise Kitson, artist Emma Camden, and Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery senior curator and programmes manager Greg Donson.
“Lewis Batchelar’s proposal stood out as a thoughtful and confident exploration of glass as both material and language,” the panel said.
“With an excellent track record and a clear artistic direction, he was the unanimous choice for the 2026 residency.”
Batchelar began his career in glasswork in Whanganui. He graduated with a diploma in Glass Design and Production from the Whanganui School of Glass in 2012.
He moved to Adelaide, Australia, in 2015 to pursue a two-year Associate Training Programme at JamFactory – a globally recognised studio and gallery.
He spent the next nine years in Adelaide before returning to New Zealand in 2023.
His work is internationally recognised. He was a finalist for the Tom Malone Prize in 2019, FUSE Glass Prize for Australian and New Zealand glass in 2016 and 2018, and Young Glass in Ebeltoft, Denmark, in 2017. He won the Ann Robinson Glass Award in 2012.
JamFactory’s glass department production manager, Lilly Buttrose, and renowned Australian glass artist, Clare Belfrage, supported Batchelor’s application for the residency in Whanganui.
Batchelar said he planned to focus on pattern, colour theory and the expressive possibilities of repetition and form during his residency. He will do so through sculptural, blown-glass works.
The artist in residence programme at NZG is part of a collection of programmes, including internship and professional mentor programmes, funded by Creative New Zealand.
The initiatives aim to further and strengthen contemporary glass practice in New Zealand.
Candidates for other programmes at NZG will be announced later this month.
