Since 1994, GAS has included a Student Representative on our board as part of our commitment to including students’ voices in the future of our organization and the broader global glass community. In 2022, we added a second Student Representative position to ensure we featured international student voices as well. Student Representatives serve on the GAS Board of Directors for two years and steward student-focused programming, including our new free student memberships initiative. We caught up with this year’s Student Representatives, Zach Abella and Bailey Donovan, to learn more about them and what excites them about GAS.
Zach Abella
Zach Abella is a Citizen Potawatomi glass artist residing in Carbondale, Illinois, studying at Southern Illinois University. He began working in glass at the age of 12 through the Hilltop Artists program in Tacoma, Washington. He finds inspiration for his work in the Potawatomi cultural tradition and the Coastal Salish traditions he grew up with in the Pacific Northwest. The current goal of his work is to learn traditional teachings and stories and interpret them through a 21st-century lens, using both traditional and new mediums and techniques. With the help and guidance of other native glass artists, he has been able to increase accessibility for native individuals in glass and further push glass art as a medium used in native expression.
What drew you to being on the GAS Board of Directors as a Student Representative? What excites you about GAS?
Where do you want to see GAS and the glass community in five years?
Bailey Donovan
Bailey Donovan is an early-career glass artist currently pursuing his Master of Philosophy at the Australian National University in Canberra. With nine years of experience in glassblowing, Bailey’s practice explores the intersections of queer identity, domesticity, and craft traditions. He has taught extensively at leading Australian glass institutions, including JamFactory, Canberra Glassworks, ANU, and the University of Sydney. Committed to community-building, Bailey brings passion and dedication to his role as Student Representative on the Glass Art Society board.
Tell us about your work.
My work explores queer identity, domesticity, and craft through glass. I translate familiar textile patterns, like gingham and plaid, into blown and sculptural glass forms. I’m interested in how pattern carries memory, comfort, and cultural meaning.
What drew you to being on the GAS Board of Directors as a Student Representative? What excites you about GAS?
I love being part of the Australian glass community and wanted to contribute to the glass community at an international level. GAS brings together students, artists, and educators from around the world in a way that feels genuinely connected. I’m excited to support students and help strengthen those global conversations.
Where do you want to see GAS and the glass community in five years?
I’d like to see GAS continue to support students beyond education, especially through clearer pathways into professional practice in a world where this seems harder to achieve. I’m excited by a future where emerging and early-career artists have a stronger voice and more visibility within the global glass community. And I would love for the GAS conference to come to my home turf again, so the international glass community can learn a bit more about how we do glass down under.