The International Glass Prize is a triennial international glass competition for arts, design and crafts. This first edition focussed on the theme "The Object". In early 2012, a jury selected 47 objects from more than 1,400 entries from local and international artists and designers, young talents and established names. From 09 June to 08 October 2012, these objects are on display at GlazenHuis, Belgium. The International Glass Prize 2012 has resulted in an amalgam of techniques, concepts and forms, and contains works of artists and designers of different ages and backgrounds from around the world.

The jury consisted of Tina Oldknow (curator at the Corning Museum of Glass, New York), Richard Meitner (artist and professor at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and Jeroen Maes (artistic coordinator of the GlazenHuis). 

In July, 2012 the winners of The International Glass Prize were announced and the prizes (including a Public prize) presented. There were five winners in total, sharing three cash prizes, two residencies in the glass studio of the GlazenHuis and the acquisitions by the City of Lommel for the expansion of the municipal glass art collection. 

The Public Prize was awarded to Herbarium (2011) by Siobhan Healy.

After an impressive campaign Herbarium finished with 1,010 preference votes (17% of the total of 5,870 votes). Siobhan Healy receives a cash prize of EUR 2,500.

Glasgow based glass maker Siobhan works with glass and light to create her unique artworks. She uses symbolic botanical imagery to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind. She incorporates silver, fusing the metal into the surface of the glass. Siobhan specialises in architectural glass commissions for public buildings and also sculptural artworks for galleries and public spaces. Her work is in collections in the UK, India, USA and Dubai. Siobhan has also been a consultant and demonstrated glass-making processes on BBC 1's Homes Live programme and also on BBC2's Geology programme 'Men of Rock' with professor Ian Stewart.

The other International Glass Prize winners were:

Comb (2010) by Jeffrey Sarmiento

Comb is an object ‘biography’ of an ethnographic wooden artefact from the Sunderland Museum. It is more than just a replica; the wood has been replaced with glass, the layers of which contain the curator’s handwritten acquisition notes. It is the smallest work in this exhibition, being 8 cm high, 18 cm long and 1 cm thick and perhaps the most recognizable as an object. There is a story behind this object and thanks to an ingenious idea also literally a story in the object.  Jeffrey Sarmiento studied in the United States at the world famous Rhode Island School of Design, amongst other schools, and he works at the English Sunderland University since 2011. He receives a cash prize and the work is being purchased for the collection of the City of Lommel.

Shiro .former 1 (2012) by Yoshiaki Kojiro

Shiro or ‘White’ is hard to encompass. It can certainly not be called figurative and it cannot be called abstract either. It does not stand for beauty or for any statement or concept. But it’s primarily about matter and transitoriness, about feeling. The artist describes it as follows: “I try to make a material as unstable as possible, and to extract the potential from it as naked as possible.” Yoshiaki Kojiro studied, lives and works in Japan, but his work receives attention in museums worldwide and was awarded several times in international competitions. He receives a cash prize and the object is purchased for the collection of the City of Lommel.

Repertoire (2010-2011) by Alexander Rosenberg

For one year, Alexander Rosenberg collected all glass objects he made during glassblowing demonstrations. He then arranged them carefully until – illuminated by an overhead projector – they made his shadow. The sketch pencil he left laying on the projector – and which, as a result, has a special effect on his silhouette – is Rosenberg’s tribute to L’Angelo della Città by Marino Marini, a controversial sculpture at the entrance of the Guggenheim Museum in Venice. Alexander Rosenberg studied, lives and works in the United States. He was awarded a cash prize and also receives a residency in the GlazenHuis from 22 to 28 August, 2012.

Obsession (2012) by Maria Bang Espersen

For Maria Bang Espersen ‘the object’ is her way to express herself strongly and seduce us in an abstract, poetic and esthetical way. Maria Bang Espersen studied and experimented in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Japan. In Lommel she now gets that opportunity again during her residency until 8 July. In addition, her object will be purchased by the City of Lommel for the expansion of the municipal glass art collection.

Find out more about the International Glass Prize 2012 

Images:
Top: Siobhan Healy awarded her prize by The Mayor of Lommel, Peter Vanvelthoven, alongside Herbarium.

Centre: work by the Espersen, Rosenberg, Kojiro and Sarmiento

Foot: Photograph of the winners (apart from Alexander Rosenberg).