BOOK REPORT: GLASSIFIED: 25 years with contemporary glass from Glasmuseet Ebeltoft

GLASSIFIED front cover

Danish glass museum Glasmuseet Ebeltoft has just published a book, entitled GLASSIFIED: 25 years with contemporary glass. The book is a fully illustrated 168-page look back on the history of Studio Glass from the eary furnace experiments in the 1960s through present contemporary glass art and artists. Author Niels Houkjær also includes a look back at the 25-year history of Glasmusset Ebeltoft as well as a discussion about contemporary glass with several Danish glass artists.

The book is the follow-up companion to a new exhibit, “GLASUNIVERS (The World of Glass),” the museum unveiled in January 2011. The museum, which celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year, renovated the entire second floor of the former Customs and Exercise House that now serves as the Old Building of their two-winged museum to accommodate the new exhibit. “The World of Glass,” which was designed with help from Danish design companies Hans Thyge & Co., Yoke Interactive Design, and Synchro, is an interactive, mostly digital exhibit that explores and explains the history of glass and glassmaking processes. Yoke designed the world’s first “Digital Glass Blower,” which allows participants to blow, form and paint glass structures and display them using a holographic ghost screen, specifically for this exhibit.

The museum, a three-hour drive and ferry ride away from the Danish capital of Copenhagen, opened its doors to the public in 1985. It was founded by artist Finn Lynggaard, Erling Rasmussen, and Bent Fredberg. The museum, with a permanent collection that is over 1,500 items strong, contains pieces by more than 700 different artists. The museum also hosts 3-5 international exhibitions (both solo and group shows) a year. These special shows exhibit both internationally renowned artists and young students creating experimental glass pieces. The museum opened a new wing to compliment its Old Building (“Toldboden”) in 2006, a celebration of the museum’s 20th anniversary, which included a cafe, reception area, storage space, indoor garden, and, of course, exhibition space.

Glasmuseet Ebeltoft as seen from the sea

As a celebration of the museum’s 25th anniversary, “The World of Glass” exhibit and GLASSIFIED are significantly less grandiose than a new museum wing, but they do provide something you can take home with you.

GLASSIFIED: 25 years with contemporary glass is available in both Danish and English from Glasmusset Ebeltoft and from the museum’s website.

—Jason Gutierrez

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