Architectural fantasies
- At the age of 18 Stine became hooked on glassblowing
- In 2018 she had a solo show at the Hellen Gallery in New York
- The Danish Arts Foundation gave her a three-year work grant in June 2019
Fascinated by glass since she was a teenager, Stine Bidstrup studied at the Danish School of Design on the island of Bornholm and at the Rhodes Island School of Design in the US. She now uses an array of traditional techniques including glassblowing, glass casting, fusing and stretching, cold working, gluing and painting to create work that straddles sculpture, craft and installation art, and which is inspired and informed by the history of architecture and design. “Glass is an extremely difficult material and it requires determined willpower to continue working with it,” she says. But she sticks with it “because glass triggers curiosity and an engaged and complex viewing relationship between the object and the audience.”
INTERVIEW
Glass is a tricky material. It is both reflective and visible, and transparent and close to invisible. It is hard and it breaks, and it is fluid and elastic. It lends itself to the curious-minded but is difficult to approach in terms of the skill required to handle it.
My work is often based on an interest in patterns of people, infrastructure, architecture and systems that have grown so large and out of proportion to their original purpose that they lose touch with human reason and understanding.
People are often unaware just how difficult and tricky glass is to work with, especially with the mix of techniques that I use. They have trouble believing that I am the creator of my large glass pieces.
One of the most memorable moments in my professional life was in September 2018 when my family and my friends from Denmark travelled to New York to be with me at the opening of my solo show at the most distinguished glass gallery in the world: the Heller Gallery.
Stine Bidstrup
Glass sculptor
Copenhagen, Denmark
Recommended by Danish Crafts & Design Association
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
PHONE
+45 27492937
LANGUAGES
Danish, French, English, Swedish
