About Us
Designers and fabricators of contemporary kiln-form studio glass in Sydney’s Inner West for over a decade, we offer bespoke commissions, professional consultation, specialty facilities hire for artistic endeavours, and an extensive suite of workshops lead by artists actively engaged with the medium.
Studio4 finds itself home to a small cohort of practicing specialist glass artists who have transformed the space into their permanent studio residence, a consistently rotating number of visitors and temporary occupants, and countless students, hirers, and curious creatives who are always welcome through our doors.
Founded and Directed by contemporary Australian artist Kate Baker in 2014, the space is host to many an artist, maker, and hobbyist in the region, and its annual workshop program frequently expands to accommodate the growing needs of the local glass community.
The studio is fully equipped with three state-of-the-art glass kilns, specialist glass cutting, grinding, sandblasting, and polishing equipment, as well as darkroom and screen printing facilities.
Our Team
Dr. Kate Baker
Founder & Director
Kate Baker is an Australian contemporary artist, researcher, and educator whose practice is reshaping the field of studio glass. Holding a PhD from the Australian National University’s School of Art & Design, her research has redefined the potential of studio glass to be understood as a material for cutting-edge digital image making —an investigation that has set new benchmarks for the field globally.
Committed to nurturing the next generation of artists, Baker has lectured and advised at the University of Sydney’s Sydney College of the Arts, taught in community programs, and shared her expertise as a visiting artist at conferences and university settings internationally.
In 2014, Baker established Studio4, a purpose-built facility dedicated to experimental and architectural-scale glass projects. A hub for education, innovation, and fabrication in studio glass, Studio4 supports artists and designers seeking to push technical and conceptual boundaries.
Baker’s work has been showcased at leading public institutions globally —including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Corning Museum of Glass - New York, the Shanghai Museum of Glass, and Japan’s Toyama Glass Art Museum, amongst others—and has earned a series of national and international awards and scholarships. Her artworks reside in museum collections across Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia, underscoring the global impact of her practice.
Dan De Nardis
Educator & Studio Assiatant
Dan De Nardis is an visual artist based in Sydney’s Inner West, living and working on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people. She completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts at the University of South Australia in 2020 and worked as teaching assistant for hot glass classes, and later, graduated with First Class Honours in a Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Honours) in Visual Arts at the University of Sydney in 2023 - earning the University Medal and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Honours Prize.
Dan presented her first solo exhibition, “Ponderings of a Weary Mind”, at Disorder Gallery in 2023, of which one of the displayed works, “Depression (2022)”, featured in Corning Museum of Glass's annual exhibition-in-print, “New Glass Review” that same year. In 2024, she served as a Board Director for Ausglass - the Australian Association of Glass Artists, coming into the role with a particular goal of supporting emerging artists, and promoting the efforts of small glass studios nationally.
Through her practice, Dan explores emotion and the struggles of the human mind, with her current focus centring on experiences related to mental health, navigating personal narratives, identity, and fear. She openly discusses her personal ongoing difficulties with Anxiety; writing and creating around her experiences to encourage honest dialogue around mental conditions, and challenge the stigma that surrounds them. Through her monstrous sculptures and disquieting illustrations, she delves into the darker, more uncomfortable elements of human experience to bring them to light.