The event was attended by artists, curators, museum and university staff from 16 countries (Azerbaijan, Estonia, Israel, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, the US, Turkey, Ukraine, Finland, France, Sweden, Japan), as well as students, alumni, and teachers from the Department of Glass Art at Lviv National Academy of Arts.
The symposium lasted a week – at the Lviv Academy of Arts (which has a stove that can be used to blow glass) and ended with a traditional exhibition of more than 70 works at the Andrei Sheptytsky National Museum. By the way, some artists that came to Lviv, despite not having participated in the events directly due to their senior age, brought exclusive offerings to present in the city. For example, Mark Ekstrand from the United States presented his work in fusing technique (the similar technique is now used to make stained glass).
As always, all of the glass fantasies created or presented at the symposium remain in Ukraine – at the Museum of Glass, which now has more than 400 such works in the collection! Unfortunately, it is impossible to exhibit them all – due to insufficient room, as the museum is only 120 sq. m.
“The symposium was held very well,” said Mykhailo Bokotei, the organizer of the event and the director of Lviv Museum of Glass. “There were more than 40 participants, 26 of them are artists. I am very pleased that the majority of artists had participated in the symposium for the first time. Also, we have added to the list of participating countries – it was the first time we had artists from Sweden and Israel.” [By the way, the glass is baked at the temperature of 1,250 – 1,300 degrees Celsius. Then the furnace temperature is reduced to 1,100 degrees to allow working with the glass. – Author]. “The process of heating the furnace, from zero to high temperatures, can take up to two weeks. Because of that, the stove is never put down – it works 24 hours a day for a year after it was started…”
There are no pressing problems with funding (the main portion of which is taken by gas heating) now – the costs are partially covered by the Ministry of Education, because here we have an educational and creative workshop for student practice. Bokotei adds that this stove is one of the few in Europe available for students.
I wonder, which country is considered a Mecca of glass art?
“Italy – more precisely, the island of Murano. The industry is also well developed as a national craft in the Czech Republic. And also in the United States – Seattle alone has 22 different workshops of this profile!” explains Bokotei.
By the way, artistic glass as an authored, conceptual form of art is relatively young. Its development began in the 1960s. The symposium in Lviv held an international conference with scientists from the US, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Turkey. Each of the professors presented their work and their Academy of Art, that is – a personal artistic school. Also, the event gave rise to the discussion on the future of blown glass. Almost all of glasswork foundries in Eastern Europe today have gone out of business! Although it is not a problem to build a new foundry – it then might be a problem to find artists who can work in this field. In short, old masters are going away, and there is nobody to educate a new generation of blown glass artists.
I am curious, how many students are currently enrolled in the Department of Glass Art at Lviv Academy of Arts (which is the only department of its kind in Ukraine).
“In general,” says Bokotei, “there are 80 students, but the curriculum is based not only on the foundry – we teach a wide range of techniques. It is difficult to estimate how many of the graduates will become hutnyks, that is glass foundry workers. The experience of previous years shows that very few choose to work at the foundries...”
By the way, all of the previous years’ symposia had had great difficulties with money. What about now?
“In this regard, the regional state administration helped us a little,” responds Bokotei. “As of participants, they all got here on their own. That is, our symposium has a prestige, and people want to go here.”
Also, the organizer is proud that Lviv International Symposium of Blown Glass Art is the oldest in Europe and has not interrupted its activity, being held every three years: “In 2005 the ceramic-sculpture factory was closed, so we had a 2007 symposium in Berezhany. The next time in 2010, the factory in Berezhany had already been closed, and we held the event at ‘Galician Glass’ in Novoiavorivsk. This factory also went out of business, so the next two consecutive workshops we held at the Academy. Even if the stove is a small one, we have found a way to invite a large number of participants.”
