Artist : Ron Seivertson
Genre : Hand blown and sculptured hot glass
Period : September 1 till September 30
Everyday, 10.00AM till 9.00PM
Location : Nikko Bali Resort and Spa
Jl. Raya Nusa Dua Selatan
Tel: 773377
Glass is a relatively new artistic medium in Bali. Art galleries
tend to focus on paintings, stone and wood carving, and gold
and silver. Pottery, to which glass ware is most closely related,
is produced in a similar manner (the potter’s wheel
versus the hollow iron blowing pipe, the kiln versus the furnace
to harden or mould the ‘material’), and the end
product tends to be mainly associated with functional objects
intended for daily human use. Both final ‘objects’
are brittle and impervious, and to every one’s horror,
easily broken. Some beautiful locally produced utilitarian
pieces such as hand blown glass vases and tableware are available
from Jenggala and Galeri Esok Lusa. The latter gallery also
exhibits Seiki Torige’s exquisite and monumental glass
sculptures and table platters. So, it is of some interest
to see Horizon, a new gallery specializing in glass wares,
has opened in Bali.
Some of the first vessels made of glass date back to the Egyptian
Akkad dynasty around 2600 BC. Many techniques have, and are,
used to mould and shape glass, including hand blowing, casting,
slumping and chiseling. Hand blowing of glass dates back to
the first century BC in Roman Syria. It is difficult and requires
a great degree of skill and, at times, some luck. This advanced
hand blowing technique transformed the material’s usefulness
from a time-consuming process, in which the medium was hot-formed
around cores of mud and dung, into a mass-producible material
that could be quickly inflated into large, transparent, and
leak-proof vessels. Glass blowing techniques spread throughout
the Roman world. Venice, particularly the island of Murano,
became a centre for high quality glass manufacture in the
late medieval period, and continues as such to this day.
Ron Seivertson is an American Hot Glass artist who founded
the Horizon Glassworks in Ubud. He has studied various glass-making
techniques, but his principal research was done at the famous
Pilchuck Glass School, near Stanwood in Washington, USA. In
his exhibition, ‘Out of My Hands’, Seivertson
presents a diverse range of art glassworks that seek to bring
out the personality of each piece, which gives them unique
character and feeling. The process of creating each piece
demands skill, speed and an enormous innate sensitivity to
the rhythm, flow and temperature of the molten glass, which
is handled at a liquid red heat of more than 1100 degrees
centigrade.
“Hot glass is so very sensitive”, Seivertson says,
“I find even my thoughts affects it. The molten glass
responds immediately. The results of effort are deep and permanent.
The margin of error or excellence in this medium is very small.
It’s intense and I love that element. I think most artists
reach a wrestling point with each and every work they create
where a certain amount of ‘giving in’ or ‘allowing’
takes place. That is the point for me where real beauty and
grace come about, at that point of intuitive response. I have
always been deeply moved by color, elegance and gesture, especially
gesture. My desire is to express this sense to others through
my work”.
Within the exhibited pieces a slightly misshapen ‘Untitled
Vase’ seems to suggest the Egyptian heritage of glass.
The frosted surface and abstracted patterning make the vase
appear almost like an alabaster Egyptian funeral urn. A set
of tiny Balinese priests, in the work ‘Upacara’
(Ceremony), also continues this ‘Egyptian’ theme,
wherein the kneeling glass figures echo the forms of ancient
carved Egyptian scribes. At the renowned Freeformed Glass
studio in Melbourne, Australia, Seivertson studied Anatomical
Hot Glass sculpture. The results of these studies are spectacularly
displayed in a clear glass ‘Torso’ that contains
thin rippling ribbons of colored glass, which follow the sinuous
curves of the torso’s form. ‘Purple Angel’
is another anatomical work in which the arms, legs and torso
have all been gracefully distorted and extended to simulate
flight. Finally, there are a dozen or so superbly formed rondels,
or large platters, which hang on the exhibition’s wall
space. These ‘Untitled Rondel’ take on the appearance
of over blown lollipops, or bring to mind the target and bull’s-eye
paintings of Pop Artist Jasper Johns. Viewed en-masse there
is a similarity to the pieces, but, with-in each work, the
subtle variances of the free-flowing swirls of colored glass
dictate the final uneven forms and gestures of the platters.
These are supremely elegant works, and it would be a crime
to serve sushi on them. They should remain marvelous pieces
of decorative glass artworks, admired for their stunning refinement
rather than for their practical functionality.
Ron Seivertson creates light filled forms of blown and sculptured
hot glass, which are amazing in their textural luminosity.
His small, yet impressive, exhibition gives us another glimpse
of the evocative potential of glass as a medium for art works
and fine utilitarian tableware. It will be interesting to
see if Balinese craftsmen and artisans take the initiative
and enlarge their repertoire of art materials. That would
be challenging, and it would be an interesting development
in the vibrant Balinese art and craft community.
