Michael Behrens

Glass sculptor

©Lucia Zanders

©Norbert Heyl

©Lucia Zanders

Seeing the world through water

Michael makes kiln-casted glass objects
The transparency of glass is crucial to his work
His sculptures are inspired by nature

Michael Behrens lives and works in Dusseldorf, Germany. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, the Netherlands, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2003. “I began experimenting with glass in 2002. Over the years, my fascination with the world perceived through water led me to profound involvement with the relationship between outer shape and content.” His work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe, the United States and Canada. In 2017 he won the Imagine Museum of Glass Award at the 45th Annual International Glass Invitational Award Exhibition, Habatat Galleries Michigan, US.

Interview

©Lucia Zanders

©Paul Niessen

How did you become a glass artisan?: I applied for a glass workshop while studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. Then I was looking for a scholarship for my final examination and by accident I found a company selling raw art glass and producing kilns for melting and casting. I applied to do my final exams in their studio.
How are your glass sculptures made?: The model is shaped out of polyurethane foam, and the mould for the kiln is casted out of silica sand and plaster. It can take between three and eight weeks to melt and anneal the glass in the kiln. Then the pieces are taken out of the mould and sandblasted, grinded and polished.
How do you use colour in your sculptures?: The use of colours is inspired by the underwater world. Their natural and random appearance is generated by the external shape and detailed elements, such as the interplay of matt and polished surfaces as well as the cell-like structures emerging from fusing the glass sections.
How do you blend tradition and innovation?: The tradition in my work is based on the melting process, developed 4,000 years ago in the south of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Innovation comes from working as a classic sculptor, but shaping a modern material, polyurethane foam, from which the raw models for my sculptures are made.

Michael Behrens is a master artisan: he began his career in 2003 and he started teaching in 2003