One of the biggest observations I´ve made since opening the gallery last year is how narrow the opinion is in Germany that glass can be used as a material to create fine art. Since glass is considered part of the arts and crafts, anyone working with the material is thrown into the category of “craftsperson”, on par with the ladies weaving beautiful kelims in Anatolia… This is obviously very stifling for many artists as it ostracizes them from galleries and fine art fairs.
Ironically, studio glass officially started with Erwin Eisch in Frauenau, Germany in the late 1950´s. Harvey Littleton, already interested in establishing a glass dept. at the U. of Wisconsin, visited Eisch and then was sure he was on the right track. I guess that´s where the split in the trajectory began? Littleton inspired glass in an academic milieu and Eisch kept it to himself in his atelier. He was a “black sheep” as he wrote in a letter to Littleton in 1964. On the other hand, German art academies work with glass in the sculpture department.
My question is, when is art really art and what exactly is a craft? How do you, as an artist, distinguish between the two and do you ever run into discrimination because of the material you work with? (I´m sure I over-generalize the North American glass scene)
No comments:
Post a Comment