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NLC X TALKING OUT YOUR GLASS PODCAST:
Bertil Vallien

synopsis

“Dark and beautiful, Bertil Vallien’s sculpture takes the viewer on a mystical journey through the subconscious. Part oracle, part art object – his boats, maps and heads reveal existential secrets through a series of symbols and codes embedded in a glass matrix that appears to contain light. Sweden’s most innovative and well-known contemporary glass artist, Vallien pioneered sand casting in the 1980s and began creating sculptures in glass that inspired his now famous quote: “Glass eats light.”

Images & text source: Talking Out Your Glass Podcast

ARTIST BIO
Bertil Vallien

Born in 1938 in Sollentuna, a suburb north of Stockholm, Vallien studied ceramics at the Konstfack School of Arts, Crafts, and Design in Stockholm, then spent two years at the School for Advanced Industrial Design. At Konstfack, he graduated at the top of his class and was awarded a Royal Foundation grant. His love of ceramics took him to Los Angeles for a position with HAL Fromholt Ceramics, and soon he was meeting artists, critics, and gallery owners, attending events at California universities, and exhibiting his ceramics. In 1963, he was invited back to Sweden by the C.H. Åfors glass-factory, where he contributed to a successful reorganization of the company and designed many of their most well-known lines.

Talking Out Your Glass Podcast

TALKING OUT YOUR GLASS PODCAST

As editor of Glass Art magazine from 1987 to March 2019, Shawn Waggoner has interviewed and written about multitudes of the world’s greatest artists working glass in the furnace, torch and on the table. In 2016, Waggoner turned her passion for glass art into a “Terry Gross” style podcast featuring interviews with the likes of Lino Tagliapietra, Narcissus Quagliata, Dante Marioni, Robert Mickelsen, Toots Zynsky, Shayna Lieb, Kelly O’Dell, Raven Skyriver, Ginny Ruffner, Lucio Bubacco, Banjo, Richard Marquis, Judith Schaechter, and many more.

Talking Out Your Glass podcast features conversations with the world’s best glass artists. Subscribe or listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Google Podcasts. Follow on Instagram and Facebook. Find all seven seasons of the show and more at www.talkingoutyourglass.com.

glass lives 2022

Glass Lives explores the human relationship with glass making and material. Uncovering some of the exceptional European master artisans using long-held traditions, skills and knowledge.

Glass Lives celebrates the visionary embodiment of both creativity and craftsmanship by European master artisans at the highest level of excellence. Supported by the EU Creative Europe Programme, collaboration lies at the heart of what the ISGNE network represents, encouraging exchange and fostering a sense of building a stronger glass community.

return to glass lives

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