Jo Tricker

Jo Tricker is master glass artist working from Tauranga, New Zealand. Her expertise spans a wide range of glass techniques, including cast glass, kilnforming, slumping, and lampworking. She has earned a reputation for striking glass sculptures inspired by her travels throughout Africa.

With a background equally grounded in science and the arts, Jo finds glasswork to be a perfect blend of the two disciplines. In the mid-1980s she undertook two apprenticeships in Medical Laboratory Technology, and she believes her fascination with glass began during that time.

I got to play with test tubes, petri dishes, glass slides and pipettes—measuring and mixing liquids and chemicals, and spending a lot of time looking down a microscope!

In addition to her scientific training, Jo holds a degree in English and Linguistics, plus certificates in English language teaching and graphic design.

She credits a mosaic conference in Hobart, Tasmania, as the spark that set her on the path to glass artistry. There she watched a sculptor present life-sized birds made with kiln-formed glass feathers and was “fascinated and hooked” by the detailed workmanship—each bird boasting a wingspan of five metres. Today, Jo creates her own intricately carved glass birds in NZ.

Glass encompasses my love of science and art—it is the junction where both loves meet!

Over the years, she has taken part in numerous masterclasses in kilnforming and flameworking, learning from renowned glass artists both in New Zealand and overseas.