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A true treasure trove for first-class art this year was the exhibition YOUNG GLASS at the Glasmuseum Ebeltoft in Denmark. This event is held every ten years in the form of an international competition honouring young creative talent. The show has thus become an important point of reference for glass artists all over the world. Works by 57 artists from 18 countries were presented. One of the many stunning objects on view was Bjørn Friborg’s “BBC”, which was awarded the prestigious Finn Lynggaard Preis 2017 at the exhibition. Carrying on the traditional art of glass blowing while taking it to new extremes – this is the balancing act the Danish artist masters brilliantly.

In the famous “Glasriket” (Kingdom of Crystal) in the province of Småland in southern Sweden, Mattias Stenberg impressed us as a true all-rounder, a multi-award-winning artist, designer and architect who also boasts a degree in engineering. Despite a lifelong love of glass, he only made his debut as a glass designer in 2016, with his “Septum” series for Kosta Boda. These highly aesthetic objects, painstakingly produced by means of a prolonged process, stand for Stenberg’s artistic philosophy: clarity in concept, form and material.

The art of glass enjoys a high standing in the south of France as well. In Biot, renowned as a traditional centre for glassmaking, the Pierini family’s glass studio stands out from the rest. Robert Pierini and Alain and Marysa Begou count among the pioneers of glass art, and examples of their work have long since joined the collection of the Glasmuseum Lette. The younger generation is also gifted with creative talent. Antoine Pierini, born in 1980 in Antibes into this distinguished artist family, turns to nature and his Mediterranean cultural heritage for inspiration, as is plain to see from the impressive glass amphorae he calls “Vestiges Contemporains”: “My work invites the viewer to step back in time to the fascinating early years of antiquity; it reinterprets the magic of rituals, objects and symbolic artefacts used by women and men of different cultures all around the Mediterranean Sea.”  

The Foundation was also delighted to make some new discoveries in its own exhibitions during 2018: “Japanese Glass Today” was especially popular, with the extraordinary Japanese aesthetic captivating both us and the visitors alike.

We would like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to three exhibitions coming up in 2019: In May we will present an exciting glimpse of the current Hungarian glass scene, in summer we are planning a joint exhibition with the Dutch Academy of Fine Arts to mark the 50th anniversary of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam, and in autumn students from the Glasfachschule Hadamar in Hessen will show their works here for the first time!

Photo above: 

Kelly O´Dell + Raven Skyriver, Biot Nautilus, 2018 (Photo: Glasmuseum Lette)

Photos:

Sachi Fujikake, Vestige II, 2016 (Photo: Sachi Fujikake)

Natsuki Katsukawa, Microworld Specimen, 2016 – „Stanislav Libenský Award 2016“  (Photo: Natsuki Katsukawa)

Nicolas Laty, Glassy Puppy, 2017 (Photo: Glasmuseum Lette)

Jan-Erik Ritzman, Face Arial 1, 2017  (Photo: Glasmuseum Lette)

Mattias Stenberg, Septum Stor F, 2018 (Photo: Kosta Boda/Jonas Lindström)

Björn Friborg, BBC, 2016 – „Finn Lynggaard Preis 2017“ (Photo: Anne Marie Jo)

Antoine Pierini, Vestige Contemporain (VEC1A2), 2017 (Photo: Gaëlle Pierini)

Antoine Brodin, Le Roi des Oiseaux, 2016 (Photo: Antoine Brodin)

The small but world-famous Czech glassmaking town of Kamenický Šenov (known as “Steinschönau” in German) is set in an idyllic landscape on the border between the Lusatian Highlands and the Bohemian Uplands. The region has been synonymous with glassmaking since the 16th century, and in the 18th century Kamenický Šenov became an important centre of the European glass trade.

When the glass industry experienced a boom around 1840, glass producers in Kamenický Šenov set out to upgrade their artisans’ professional skills in an effort to remain competitive on the international market. Drawing classes were thus introduced at the local Sunday school as early as 1839, attended by pupils and by glass journeymen and masters. In 1856, the Secondary School of Glassmaking was founded, which is considered to be the oldest school for this discipline in Central Europe. In the beginning there were only the traditional departments for glass painting and cutting, but departments were subsequently added for the design and construction of lighting fixtures and for glass engraving. Thanks to the excellent facilities available at the school, students have been able since the early 1990s to also learn glass blowing at a melting furnace, making glass sculptures out of molten glass, sheet glass slumping in the electric furnace, printing glass panes (vitreography), and the use of computer graphics. The training takes four years and ends with a qualification for university studies.

While at first the school oriented its teaching on industry requirements for skilled glass cutters, engravers and painters, changes in the field soon demanded the cultivation of artistic talent as well. The glassmaking school therefore not only offers training for future specialists in the glass industry but also prepares particularly talented students for studies at an art academy. Many distinguished glass artists have come out of the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Kamenický Šenov. The list of graduates reads like a who’s who of the Czech glass scene.

Ever since its foundation, the glassmaking school has exerted a major influence on the development of the glass industry in terms of art, craft and technology – throughout the school’s history, its headmasters, teachers and graduates have made a vital contribution to sustaining the high level of Czech glass art. This is amply evident from the works by graduates and teachers from the Kamenický Šenov school that are on view in our latest exhibition. They all reflect the high aesthetic and craftsmanship standards of the training there. The Glasmuseum Lette is thus carrying on its tradition of offering pupils and students a forum for presenting their artistic development and treatment of the material of glass.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the school’s headmaster Pavel Kopřiva, an artist in his own right, and to the gallerist Daniela Welti, who have provided us with invaluable assistance in organising this exhibition!

Photo above:

Karolína Kopřivová, Forest flower, 2017 – Foto Vladimir Labaj, Jiří Koudelka

Photos:

Martin Novák, Engraved plate, 2008 – Foto Vladimir Labaj, Jiří Koudelka

Ladislav Průcha, Alter Ego, 2013 – Foto Jiří Koudelka

Pavel Kopřiva, The squirrel, 2017 – Foto Dagmar Petrovická

Nazerke Toleutay, Fish, 2014 – Foto Vladimir Labaj, Jiří Koudelka

Kateřina Fabiánová, Light object, 2011 – Foto Vladimir Labaj, Jiří Koudelka

Ondřej Skok, Untitled, 2011 – Foto Vladimir Labaj, Jiří Koudelka

Marie Jindrová, Idol 1, 2014 – Foto Vladimir Labaj, Jiří Koudelka

Dagmar Pánková, Pillows, 2009 – Foto Vladimir Labaj, Jiří Koudelka

When five men came together in 1991 to share a studio at Frauenau in Bavaria, they looked for a name to reflect them and their work.

An advertising slogan eventually inspired their name-finding efforts: “Men’s skin (Männerhaut) is quite natural, too”, it said in a magazine, and this was precisely what the five intended to express as individuals and artists – working in a group, with no group ideology slipped over them, a shared studio enabling the joint use of machines and a permanent exchange on artistic creation and craftsmanship.

The surprising thing is that glass receded into the background initially, although Frauenau is a historic location and a synonym for this material. Perhaps that was why during the first years of search and experiment, Männerhaut tried to keep their distance from glass and prove that artists in that part of the world, too, could be masters of free painting and sculpture.

It was only after four years of working together that Männerhaut returned to glass, and in 1995 they had their first exhibition at the Frauenau museum of glass. Their studio had meanwhile become too small because the group then had increased to six members and had reconstituted itself with the aim of winning recognition for glass in art, design and handicraft within the region and beyond.

After numerous exhibitions and projects, Männerhaut has become an integral part of the world of glass art. In the Bavarian glass-making centres of Frauenau and Zwiesel, this group of artists has become a real institution.

For the first time, the glass museum “Alter Hof Herding” hosts a Männerhaut exhibition – we are looking forward to the highly individual, poetic, playful and aesthetic creations in glass by “Atschi” Achatz, Ronald Fischer, Michael Gölker, G. Jo Hruschka, Stefan Stangl and Alexander Wallner.

Photos:

Ronald Fischer, Ein Stück Unendlichkeit, 2006 – Photo Ronald Fischer

Josef Achatz, Gipfelstürmer, 2006 – Photo AHH

Michael, Gölker, Ratte, 2003 – Photo AHH

Stefan Stangl, Vier seltsame Herren, 2006 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Alexander Wallner, o.T., 2004 – Photo AHH

 In the past year 2006 the glass collection Ernsting has expanded through many fascinating and important objects as well.

The Glass Museum is not only showing new works of already familiar artists like Hanneke Fokkelmann and Richard Price, but also works of less popular artists; e.g. Dafna Kaffeman from Israel, whose fragile, colourful objects possess a very special charm, or Blanka Adensamova, who gives her glass sculptures a shining transparency.

The Glass Museum is particularly pleased to simultaneously present two works of the prizewinners of the renowned Coburg Glass Prize 2006.              Udo Zembok, a German glass artist living in Alsace, was honoured in April 2006 for his sculptural, multi-layer fusing objects that already gave him an international reputation. Zembok achieves the impressive brightness of his objects by applying colour pigments, metals or minerals on several glass layers and fusing them to compact plates. Once the sculpture is perfect, the colours appear to shine from the depth of the object – an effect that virtually exercises a magnetic attraction on the viewer.

Josepha Gasch-Muche, the second main prizewinner of the Coburg Glass Prize, is regarded as a newcomer in the glass scene. She belonged to free painting before turning recently to glass – with unexpected success. Gasch-Muche works with extremely thin display glass which is being used in industrial processes. She breaks it into tiny fragments and fixes them relief-like with a colourless glue on a picture frame. In the incidence of light the numerous reflecting fragment layers finally develop a breathtaking, intensive momentum.

The Foundation acquired one of the most fascinating glass pictures from the first exhibition of the artist in Baden-Baden – without suspecting that the glass collection Ernsting came to possess with this a work of the future prizewinner of the Coburg Glass Prize 2006.

The Glass Museum is delighted to present to its guests once again with the exhibition New Acquistions 2006 a varied view of the different trends of the current glass art.

Photos:

Josepha Gasche-Muche, 10.2.03., 2003 – Photo AHH

Blanka Adensamova,The head of Hathor, 2005 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Dafna Kaffeman, Tactile stimulation, 2005 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Hanneke Fokkelmann, o.T., 2006 – Photo Horst Kolberg

„Room 14“? – Yes, it really exists! It belongs to the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, is a workshop and communication room at the same time. Unusual objects are created here from glass – experimentally, conceptionally, aesthetically. In Room 14 students from completely different artistic subject areas meet together at the glass furnace: ranging from the glass design via ceramic up to painting, graphic and sculpture.

Stuttgart belongs to the minority of art colleges where the artistic association with the material glass is taught at all. The communication of basic technical skills, free working and experimental dealings with glass stand in the context with the own artistic development of the students. The inspiring effect of this freedom full of suspense on the work of the students is reflected by the unique glass objects which are created in cooperation with the workshop for glass, especially at the melting furnace.

Whether installation, sculpture, free-blown or shape-blown objects or sheet glass designs – all works of art scintillate an unusual cheerfulness and candour towards the medium glass. The Glass Museum Alter Hof Herding is therefore delighted to present to you in the new exhibition „Room 14“ glass works of 13 students and graduates of the Stuttgart Academy.

The students will be accompanied by Jörg F. Zimmermann, who manages the workshop for hot glass and plastic shaping, and by Claudia Heinzler, director of the workshop for glass painting and glass processing. With this special exhibition the Glass Museum Alter Hof Herding continues its tradition to show glass works of art college students and to sponsor young talents.

Photos:

Dilini Keethapongalan, Kopflastig 4, 2005 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Anja Römpp, Zweige, 2004 – Photo Anja Römpp

Gregor Linz, Konzentration, 2006 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Katharina Weidauer, Velena, 2006 – Photo Katharina Weidauer

For top performances in artistic and creative designs the federal state NRW awards every two years a state prize since 1962. It is awarded in eight different working areas including the glass sector. In the meantime the state prize NRW is considered the most significant prize of its kind in Germany.

The Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding is therefore proud to present in a new, exciting summer exhibition glass works of seven state prize winners:

In this year Klaus Hilsbecher was awarded the state prize for the extraordinary formal language of his geometric abstract glass objects. Thomas Lemke’s sculptures, often geometrical basic bodies fascinate and irritate through a transparent interplay from inside and outside. Uta Majmudar’s clear and simultaneously complex objects from massive glass rods and wire mesh also play with the perception of the viewer. The glass sculptures of Gerd Kruft perfectly reveal the real character of the material transparency, reflection, the richness of facets. Lothar Göbel on the other hand links sandstone with basalt lava with clear, almost puristic shapes becoming successful in this case which still seem surprisingly natural. Georg Lindens impressive installations seem to produce a dialogue between light, colour and space. Helga Reay-Young catches through the intensive interaction of glass with natural materials the character of the light anew.

Photos:

Thomas Lemke, Goldquadrat, 2004 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Gerd Kruft, Blauer Keil + Blaues Quadrat, 2005 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Helga Reay-Young, Lichfänger, 2003 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Lothar Göbel, o.T., 2007 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Klaus U. Hilsbecher, In-Einander – Staatspreis NRW 2007 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Georg Linden, Wächter I, 2003 – Photo Georg Linden

Uta Majmudar, Körperform, 2004 – Photo Horst Kolberg

The Dutch artist Patula Berm is the designer of exciting dresses, bustiers and wigs. You can’t wear her creations, though – they’re made of glass!

A fascinating aura encompasses her clothing, casting a spell on the observer and sending him or her on a journey replete with fantasy, esprit and poetry.

When Patula Berm works, she’s led by her intuition and associations. Even in the conceptual stage, each of her sculptures subsists on its own special atmosphere, which she then realizes in her creation.

The artist finds inspiration for her work everywhere: the depth of the ocean, the water which forms a type of second skin around the body, the nostalgia of an old movie or even just a particularly magical moment.

In creating her glass clothing on the other hand, she’s often stimulated by common everyday objects: mirrors, coins, silverware, brushes, strands of hair, red peppers or shells. She combines these various materials with her glass creations, thus giving them a completely new meaning.

Patula Berm started coming up with her glass clothing in 1995 in the Amsterdam glass studio Van Tetterode.

The glass museum Alter Hof Herding is extremely pleased to present the works of a single artist again for the first time in a long time. Come and be amazed by the extraordinary pieces on exhibit.

Photos:

Patula Berm, Knight in shiny armour, 2007 – Photo AHH

Patula Berm, Mirrow Image, 2002 – Photo Richard Willebrands

Patula Berm, Memories of Lavander, 2007 – Photo Richard Willebrands

Patula Berm, Flying fish, 2007 – Photo Richard Willebrands

Collecting, exhibiting, informing are the main tasks of a museum. In order to fulfil this task, the foundation annually tracks down the trends in modern art. That way it acquires consistently and continuously the glass objects which grade up the collection to an exemplary work exhibition of European glass art. Right at the beginning of the new year the foundation traditionally presents the finding of its collection of the preceding year at its exhibition “New acquisitions”.

Travelling to such significant glass centres of Europe as, for example, Leerdam, Strasbourg and Ebeltoft (Denmark) gave the important impulses to the collection last year among other things. In Leerdam the foundation could acquire two works of Menno Jonker. The Dutchman was nominated to one of the best glass artists of the world in 2001 by the Corning Museum of Glass (USA). His works are appreciated, first of all, because of their technical perfection, the unique language of forms and the innovative handling of the glass material.

At the same time the collection has been increased by many interesting exhibits from the latest special exhibitions “Space 14″ and ” Made in NRW “.

The works of young, experimentally working glass artists from the Academy of Arts in Stuttgart and the works of the established artists who have received the State Price of North Rhine-Westphalia for their special handling of glass are among them.

The foundation is proud that in the course of this exhibition it could take up into the collection the sculpture “Into each other” by Klaus U. Hilsbecher , for which he was awarded the State Price in 2007.

Photos:

Carmelo López, Homenage an Goya, 2005 – Photo Ralf Bauer

Menno Jonker, Odi et Amo, 2005.- Photo Horst Kolberg

Hartmann Greb, Neptun verlässt das Meer, 2007 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Mieke Pontier, Clouds II, 2006 – Photo Aad Doorduin

„Each work of art fetches its own material“ – so simple was the answer of a female student of the Institute for Artistic Ceramics and Glass to the question regarding the status of glass in the art. The Institute for Artistic Ceramics and Glass, a department of the Fachhochschule Koblenz, is rather new and located in Höhr-Grenzhausen.

While visiting the only Institute for Artistic Ceramics and Glass in Rheinland-Pfalz, it becomes obvious that the works of the students are determined by the concept and especially by the medium glass. Everybody experiments with his own idea and its realization using the adequate material. On that the prospective artists are tested by their teachers because the language of the material is the language of the work of art and its intention as regards content. The use of glass in the creative process is just as significant as its association with materials unlike glass.

The students of the glass class demonstrate in their works results and interim results on their personal path to the art. In the course of this unusual, fascinating works of art emerge ranging from installations via sculptures up to blown and moulded glass objects. They all reflect the freedom and openness towards glass as an artistic medium.

The Foundation is pleased to present to you in the new exhibition „Experiment Glas“ works of 11 students and graduates of the Institute for Artistic Ceramics and Glass. The young artists are accompanied by the Instutute Director, professor Ingrid Conrad-Lindig, the Head of the Workshop Glass, Thomas Kruck, and the teacher Jean Paul Raymond.

With this special exhibition the Foundation is once again following its tradition to show glass works of students from technical glass colleges and art colleges.

Photos:

Petra Sindelar, Experiment II, 2008 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Judith Röder, Faltenwürfe, 2007 – Photo Horst Kolberg

Wladimir Körting, Erinnerung 1, 2006 – Photo AHH

Stanislaw Jan Borowski, Torsi II, 2007 – Photo AHH