Bertil vallien biography of christopher columbus
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Fine arts review: Bertil Vallien's enormous sculpture travels through time
In Swedish artist Bertil Vallien's sculpture “Passage,” a long, luminous glass boat hangs above an expansive wrought-iron landscape.
The work is immense, its glass- and wrought-iron elements housed within a wooden cabinet that stretches 10 feet long and 5½ feet high.
Befitting a del av helhet which presents a vessel on a voyage, “Passage” took ganska a journey before arriving at Hawk Galleries, where it fryst vatten on view as part of a solo show.
After being constructed at the Swedish glassworks Kosta Boda, “Passage” was crated and sent by boat to New York before being trucked to Chicago — and then Columbus — where it was seen for the first time gods month at the Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design Fair.
The idea for “Passage” was formulated about two years ago, when gallery owner Tom Hawk (who has represented Vallien's work since 1998) and an executive from Kosta Boda commissioned the artist to create a large-s
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What do you want to know about Bertil Vallien that you don’t already know?
King of glass. The forests of Småland might be regarded as his kingdom. But Bertil has a worldwide reputation; not least especially in America. Back in 1962 he was named as Young American of the Year in the crafts field by the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York. And he has since had a serious love affair with America for more than half a century. In 1983 his glass enjoyed an international breakthrough with an exhibition at the Heller Gallery, in New York and for a period of more than twenty years he has taught irregularly at the famous Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle. It is naturally in the USA that he has funnen his foremost collectors.
The path to the Glass Kingdom went via Konstfack - University of Arts, Crafts and Design in huvudstaden. While studying there in the late 1950s he worked as an intern with the noted glass design
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Bertil Vallien
Artist Statement:
"Glass offers opportunities like no other material. It has everything. For me, the blowing room is the centre of everything. It’s like ladling matter out of a volcano and watching the glowing lava turn to ice. Knowing the exact moment at which to capture a shift of light or expression and wrench the secret from the glass is what it’s all about."
Of the creative process, Bertil Vallien says: “I choose the words, but do not consciously choose their arrangement. The sentences that materialize certainly have no counterpart in my mind; they occur quite by chance.”
About Bertil Vallien
Bertil Vallien is by far the most internationally celebrated glass artist and designer in Sweden. He has received numerous awards and his work is well represented in leading museums around the world. Growing up in Sweden in a devoutly spiritual home, Vallien felt conflicted and believed that the strictures of faith limited his vi