NOVEMBER, NOVEMBER, NOVEMBER
October 2022
Last year in November, I spent a few days on Bornholm to talk to both current and former students from the Royal Danish Academy – Design, Bornholm and to Nina Husted Eriksen, teacher and head of programme at the school, and, not least, to visit the workshops.
The academy is Denmark’s only educational institution that offers materials-based training in glass and ceramic design. At the Royal Danish Academy – Design, Bornholm, students can take a bachelor’s degree specializing in glass or ceramics.
Day 3
Extract from HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 6
I´m in the glass workshop, where fifth-semester students are working on casts under the knowledgeable guidance of a guest teacher.
The atmosphere is intense and ambitious, and everyone gets a chance to spend some one-on-one time with the teacher, including Marie Breyen Hauschildt.
Marie shows off her work and receives feedback and references to others who share her fascination with visceral organs and organic shapes. Most recently, Marie has blown objects resembling intestines, and she is now pondering how to proceed with the form. Her two worktables are full of experiments and projects.
I ask Marie what her purpose is with her studies.
‘The boring answer is that I had the school recommended to me,’ she replies.
‘I was introduced to the world of glass a few years ago, perhaps a little by chance. I was working in a restaurant in the town of Lønstrup which has many artists and craft makers among its guests including a couple who are glass-blowers and who asked if I wanted to work for them, as their assistant. I did that for a while, on and off, both in their studio and in their shop.
I was born and raised in Lønstrup. Later I moved to Aarhus, where I also worked for a glass-blower while I spent two semesters learning photography at a folk high school. I thought I wanted to be a photo journalist.
But the glass really appealed to me. So I applied to the National School of Glass in Småland in Sweden to take a two-year technical diploma as a glass-blower. Afterward I applied to Konstfack –
University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm and to this school. I would have liked to stay in Sweden, which has a much prouder glass tradition than Denmark, but I didn’t get in. Now, I’m really happy that I ended up here. The school’s workshop facilities are outstanding, and in terms of the social environment, it’s a great place.
It means a lot that there are so many international students. They don’t leave the island when we have time off. That means those of us who could go home are also more inclined to stay and engage with the community – on the school and on the island.’
I note that her technical training makes her significantly better prepared than many of her fellow students. Marie agrees, and comments, ‘Sometimes it almost seems like a drawback to me. I risk getting stuck on what’s possible and what’s not, while those who don’t have that background have a freer approach. On the other hand, I can sometimes contribute with something because I have that experience.’
‘I am using my stay here to explore the artistic side and am less focused on functional glass – unlike the work I do during the summer, when I have a glass-blowing studio near Lønstrup together with a colleague. My colleague has a great energy, and we work really well together.
In that context, it’s fun to make glassware; it’s fun because it’s ours – the coolest stuff is what you make yourself.’
Will you be making art or glassware – do you know? ‘If I am going to work with glass at all …’ says Marie. ‘It is intimidating and scary to have to make a final choice. I have an acquired understanding that education and choice of profession is a sort of final destination.’
I ask if she’s afraid of ending up with a mortgage and a pension plan. She is.
‘In my fourth-semester traineeship I worked with a couple who were both sculptors. That was pretty far out. My previous jobs have all been in either service or production. This couple, they were more focused on realizing their ideas. Naturally, they too are dependent on economics, that just wasn’t their main focus.
They had a beautiful studio in connection with their home, and their life was coherent.
Their outlook on life was a big inspiration to me.’
Does the material matter to you? I ask. ‘I think that if I continue to be creative and artistic, glass is going to be my main medium. I’m still thinking about the Forest and Landscape College, which has a campus in Mols in Jutland.’
Are you affected by a mood in time and at the school, where perfect glassware is outdated, while art is the trendy thing? I ask, at risk of shutting our conversation down.
‘That’s so true,’ says Marie. ‘It’s hard to make an object for practical use that is so exclusive, without thinking that you’re excluding someone, and it’s hard to know whether that can even be justified. It is hard to make things at all in a world that doesn’t need more things.’
I think it is a shame that your generation is rejecting utilitarian things, it’s a great daily pleasure to drink from a beautiful glass and to eat from a special plate. I am sure the world still needs that, I say in defence of crafts, and from my perspective, art is no more sustainable than crafts.
Marie says, ‘I both reject and I don’t, but here at the school I need to put the functional objects back on the shelf. However, my summer is dedicated to glassware.
What’s fun about our glass studio is that we hear the customers say that the glass looks different than they’re used to. Almost as if the material has traditionally been forced into a particular expression. We make glass on the terms of the material. More organic, in a way that changes the aesthetics of glassware.’
And when you graduate?
‘If I end up staying in this field, I dream of having my own studio with someone else. I guess I need to get out of Lønstrup. On the other hand, it is also great to be there because everyone is always happy to help. I would like to combine the glass studio with a café and a big greenhouse where you can use the residual heat to grow plants.
Do you know “Mat på Glas” (Cooking on Glass) on [the Swedish island of] Gotland? Everything is locally produced, and the food is prepared on 1,150-degree glass by the chef Luqaz Ottosson in cooperation with glass-blower Jennie Olofsson.’
I didn’t, thanks for the tip!
‘A place like that could have room for more people. Community is important. It’s one of the most important things,’ is Marie’s final observation.
Marie Breyen is now bachelor,
from 25.11.2022 – 08.01.2023 she will show her work at Bygning A in Copenhagen.
I november 2021 tilbragte jeg nogle dage på Bornholm for at tale med både nuværende og tidligere elever fra Kunstakademiets Designskole, Bornholm og med skolens faglærer og programleder, Nina Husted Eriksen, og ikke mindst for at være med på værkstederne.
Kunstakademiets Designskole, Bornholm er Danmarks eneste uddannelsesinstitution, som tilbyder materialebasseret uddannelse inden for områderne glas og keramik.
Uddrag fra artikel i HÅNDVÆRK bookazine no. 6
Dag 3 besøger jeg gipsværkstedet, hvor femte semester prøver kræfter med at lave afstøbninger, under kyndig vejledning af en gæstelærer.
Stemningen er intens og ambitiøs, og undervejs får alle mulighed for alenetid med deres underviser, også Marie Breyen Hauschildt.
Marie viser sine arbejder frem og får sparring og referencer til andre, som deler hendes fascination af organer og organiske former. Marie har senest blæst tamlignende objekter, som hun nu reflekterer over, hvordan hun skal gå videre med. Hendes to arbejdsborde er fyldt med eksperimenter og projekter.
Jeg spørger Marie, med hvilket formål hun går på skolen.
“Det kedelige svar er, at jeg har fået skolen anbefalet”, svarer hun.
“Jeg blev introduceret til glasverdenen for nogle år siden, måske lidt tilfældigt. Jeg arbejdede på en restaurant i Lønstrup, hvor der kommer mange kunstnere og kunsthåndværkere, blandt andet et glaspusterpar, som spurgte, om jeg ville arbejde for dem, som assistent. Det gjorde jeg i en periode, til og fra, både på deres værksted og i deres butik.
Jeg er født og opvokset i Lønstrup. Siden flyttede jeg til Århus, hvor jeg også arbejdede for en glaspuster, mens jeg i to semestre lærte foto på en højskole; jeg forestillede mig, at jeg skulle være fotojournalist.
Men glasset trak i mig. Derfor søgte jeg til Riksglassskolan i Småland i Sverige for at tage en toårig teknisk uddannelse som glaspuster. Herfra søgte jeg dels Konstfack i Stockholm, dels skolen her på Bornholm. Jeg ville gerne være blevet i Sverige, hvor der er en langt stoltere glastradition end i Danmark.
Jeg kom ikke ind i Stockholm, og nu er jeg virkelig glad for at være landet her. Skolens faciliteter er enestående, og socialt er det et virkelig givende sted at være.
Det betyder meget, at der er så mange internationale studerende, de tager ikke fra øen, når de har fri, det betyder, at vi, som godt kunne tage hjem, også er mere tilbøjelige til at blive og til at dyrke fællesskabet, både på skolen og på øen.”
Jeg konstaterer, at hun er håndværksmæssigt noget bedre forberedt end mange af hendes medstuderende, og ja, siger Marie, “nogle gange ser jeg det nærmest som en ulempe, jeg kan komme til at sidde fast i, hvad man kan og ikke kan, hvorimod dem, som går forudsætningsløst til materialet, er mere frie. På den anden side er der også ting, jeg kan bidrage med, fordi jeg har erfaring.”
“Jeg bruger opholdet her til at udforske den kunstneriske verden og er ikke så optaget af brugsglas, det er jeg derimod om sommeren, hvor jeg sammen med en kollega har et glaspusteri tæt på Lønstrup. Min kollega har en vildt god energi, og vi arbejder godt sammen.
I den sammenhæng er det sjovt at fremstille brugsglas. Det er sjovt, fordi det er vores eget – det fedeste er det, man selv skaber.”
Skal du ende med at skabe kunst eller at lave brugsglas, ved du det? “Hvis jeg overhovedet skal arbejde med glas”, svarer Marie, “det er intimiderende og skræmmende at skulle lægge sig fast på noget. Jeg har en tillært forståelse af, at uddannelse og valg af erhverv er en slags endemål.”
Jeg spørger, om hun frygter villa, Volvo og vovse? Det gør hun.
“I min praktik på fjerde semester var jeg hos et billedhuggerpar. Det var ret vildt. Når jeg tidligere har arbejdet, har det enten været med service eller med produktion. Det her par var mere optaget af at realisere deres ideer. Det er klart, at de også er afhængige af økonomi, tanken om økonomi var bare ikke det styrende.
De havde deres smukke atelier i forbindelse med deres bolig, og deres liv var helstøbt.
Deres livsindstilling var den største inspiration.”
Betyder det noget for dig, at du arbejder i et specifikt materiale, vil jeg vide? “Jeg tror”, svarer Marie, “at hvis jeg fortsætter med at være kreativ og kunstnerisk, så vil glas være mit hovedmateriale.
Jeg går stadig og overvejer Skovskolen, som har en afdeling på Mols.”
Er du påvirket af en stemning i tiden og på skolen, hvor det perfekte brugsglas er umoderne, hvorimod kunst er god tone, spørger jeg, med risiko for at lukke samtalen.
“Det er så rigtigt”, svarer Marie, “det er svært at fremstille en brugsting, som er så eksklusiv, uden at tænke, at man ekskluderer nogen, og svært at vide, om man kan tillade sig det. Det er svært at fremstille ting i det hele taget i en verden, som ikke behøver flere ting.”
Jeg synes, at det er ærgerligt, at I forkaster brugstingene, det er en stor daglig nydelse at drikke af et smukt glas og at spise af en særlig tallerken, det er jeg sikker på, at verden behøver, forsvarer jeg kunsthåndværket, og kunst er i min optik ikke mere bæredygtigt end kunsthåndværk.
Marie siger, “jeg både forkaster og ikke forkaster, men her på skolen har jeg brug for at sætte brugstingene på hylden, derimod kan min sommer handle om brugsglas.
Det, som er sjovt med vores eget glaspusteri, er, at vi hører kunderne sige, at glasset ser anderledes ud end det, de er vant til. Det er, som om man traditionelt har tvunget materialet, vi skaber glas på materialets præmis. Det er mere organisk og er med til at forandre æstetikken omkring brugsglas.”
Og når du afslutter på Bornholm?
“Hvis jeg bliver i det her felt, så drømmer jeg om at have eget værksted sammen med en anden –
Jeg har nok behov for at flytte mig fra Lønstrup, på den anden side er det også fantastisk at være der, fordi alle vil hjælpe. Jeg vil gerne kombinere glasværkstedet med en café og med et stort drivhus, hvor man kan bruge spildvarmen til at få planter til at gro.
Kender du ‘Mat på Glas’ på Gotland (Sverige)? Alt er lokalt produceret, og maden tilberedes på 1150 grader varmt glas af kokken Luqaz Ottosson i samarbejde med glaspuster Jennie Olofsson.”
Det gjorde jeg ikke, tak for tippet.
“Sådan et sted kunne inkludere flere. Fællesskab er vigtigt. Det er noget af det vigtigste”, er Maries afrundingsreplik.
Marie Breyen er nu Bachelor,
hendes afgangsprojekt kan fra 25.11.2022 – 08.01.2023 ses i Bygning A i København
