Jméno autora:Glassworks

The story of the Meisenthal glassworks in Lorraine is a story of encouragement for the Bavarian Forest and for Glass Works! That is why a small delegation set out in summer 2019 to find out more on the spot.

Actually, the exhibition was supposed to wander through different European glass regions, just like the glassmakers portrayed in it. Actually … because Corona has also messed up our project plans.

The glass painter and glazier Conradus Glaser, who was born in the Bohemian Forest, travelled to work at the construction sites of large structures in today‘s Czech Republic, Germany and Poland in the 14th century. Monthermé – Porto Valtravaglia – Intra on Lake Maggiore – Varese – Wingen-sur-Moder – Saint-Louis-lès-Bitche were stops for the Walter-Griener family of glassmakers in the early 19th century. The glass artist Maria Koshenkova (born 1981), who was born in Russia and now lives in Denmark, works in various locations in Europe and overseas.
Glass and border crossing have always been linked. The European glass regions inspired each other. When Lisa started research at the University of Graz for the planned Glass Works touring exhibition in 2019, she was instantly fascinated by the skilled and artistically gifted border crossers who were behind this exchange: They were to become the centerpiece of the exhibition. In archives, museums, books, on trips to France, Eastern Bavaria and Northern Czechia, during cross-border phone calls, in e-mails and in interviews, glass people from the past and the present could be followed. In designing our touring exhibition, we trace their cross-border biographies of movement in pictures, texts, glasses and maps.

In October 2019 it finally started: the first of three training phases with ten trainees from Germany, Denmark, and the Czech Republic.

Some trainees had already engaged with the world a lot, and had gained experience, others were just at the beginning of their careers. However, they all learned something from the various excursions and activities during the training.

Whether a designer, artisan or artist, self-employed or employed. The ten trainees all had different plans for the future. After having accompanied them intensively for six months and got to know them personally, it is exciting to see how they use this unique opportunity for them in very different ways.
There is the designer with a fascination for light installations, who now works part-time in a lighting planning office and uses the rest of the time to set up her own business. There is the former set designer who, thanks to the scholarship, has had the courage to go into business for himself as a glass maker, and who is well on the way to being successful with it. Or the glass artist and the architect and designer, between whom more than a professional collaboration arose during the training: Together with their little son, they are currently setting up a showroom in Prague.
As different as the goals of the trainees were, as different are the stations they are currently at. But what they all have in common is that they were given six months of free time in which they could devote themselves exclusively to their professional future with their own strength, but also with comprehensive support.

Our second training phase was able to build on the first and learn from it. Of course, there were differences, because the trainees bring with them very different cultures and backgrounds.