“Northern Lights”

What are the Northern Lights exactly?

For some, they are mysterious, colourful light phenomena that dance in the northern night sky in winter.

Others jokingly use the term to refer to people who live in northern climes, although the (national) borders are not drawn very narrowly here.

“Northern Lights” – a wonderfully ambiguous concept that inspired our new exhibition. The search for suitable exhibits did not take long, because our glass depot houses a number of outstanding works displaying a fascinating radiance made by artists whose homes are in the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, or northern Germany.

Working with glass has a long and renowned tradition in the north that even today still exerts a strong influence on the international art and design world.

Major pioneers of the European studio glass movement came from here, among them Sweden’s best-known glass artist and designer Bertil Vallien (b. 1938) as well as the “forefather” of Danish glass art, Finn Lynggaard (1930–2011). One of the most innovative and influential glass artists anywhere in the world is Hamburg-born Klaus Moje (1936–2016), who succeeded in establishing a glass art movement in Australia in the early 1980s.

In addition to their creative work, many Nordic glass pioneers were also educators whose students have set their own important accents in the international glass art scene with their diverse approaches. These ambitious and often award-winning “northern lights” include the Danish artist couple Trine Drivsholm and Tobias Møhl, the Swedish artists Kjell Engman and Rasmus Nossbring, and the young Norwegian glass artist Geir Nustad.

Our latest exhibition features objects, sculptures and installations that represent a cross-section of contemporary Nordic glass.

Reflecting on this artistic potential from the far north, we can only conclude that the versatile glass art produced by the “northern lights” is nothing short of spectacular. It boasts many more facets than the clear, functional aesthetic that many associate with Nordic glass design. Cool design and free-form art seem to intermingle here in a uniquely fresh and original way. Glass art from northern countries displays just as wide a range of artistic individuality and inventiveness as glass art from southern, western or eastern countries. It is by turns formally perfect and poetic, experimental and imaginative, but it is always based on consummate skill and professionalism.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Photo top: Sven-Åke Carlsson, Hiki 1+2, 2018 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette

Photos from left: Kjell Engman, Sculpture 1-3, 2011 – Photo: Horst Kolberg  /  Eerika Yli-Mattila, Pearl Diver, 2009 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette  /  Karin Mørch, Big Bronze, 2014 – Photo: Ole Akhøj  /  Trine Drivsholm, Blue Balloons 1+2, 2002 – Photo: Poul Ib Henriksen  /

Sigrún Ólöf Einarsdóttir, o.T., 1984 – Photo: Ron Zijlstra  /  Klaus Moje, o.T., 1981 – Photo: Ron Zijlstra  /  Anna Ehrner, Seed 3-5, 2004 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette  /  Rasmus Nossbring, Faint Recall, 2023 – Photo: Studio Kleiner  /

Lene Bødker, Cylinder, 2007 – Photo: Horst Kolberg  /  Finn Lynggaard, o.T., 1992 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette  /  Tchai Munch, o.T., 1992 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette  /  Geir Nustad, Street view – Childs play, 2013 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette  /

Benny Motzfeld, o.T., 1982 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette  /  Hartmann Greb, Neptun verlässt das Meer, 2007 – Photo: Horst Kolberg  /  Pipaluk Lake, Reticulate, 2009 – Photo: Jesper Palm  /  Bertil Vallien, Map, 2012 – Photo: Glasmuseum Lette