For 50 years, glazier Per Steen Hebsgaard has worked persistently with glass. As a result he can look back on an impressive body of works and commissions made in collaboration with some of the very finest artists in and outside Denmark. For the first time, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft focuses on Per Hebsgaard’s great influence on modern glass and public installation with the exhibition FROM HEBSGAARD’S TREASURE TROVE. The exhibition presents works by prominent artists such as Sven Dalsgaard, Bjørn Nørgaard, Erik A. Frandsen, Peter Brandes, Lars Ravn, Peter Stuhr, Tróndur Patursson, Lise Malinovsky, Vignir Jóhannsson, Niels Winkel and A-Kassen.
Per Steen Hebsgaard has put his finger print on almost every Danish – and several international – commissioned works made in glass. In airports, libraries, churches and several public spaces – whereever glass is involved, he has left his mark. Not in the form of an artist’s flamboyant expression, but rather in the precision and innumerable details, which characterize the final piece, which he has carried out with great respect for the artist’s vision. According to Per Hebsgaard, nothing is impossible, when it comes to transforming an artist’s idea into glass. Never-the-less, each task is a challenge to the material and to the skills of the craftsman.
Hebsgaard masters the classical techniques, known from the medieval stained glass church windows, but has also developed new methods to make large scale installations pushing glass as a material to its very limits. Among his most well known works are “Cosmic Space” made for Randers Art Museum (1997) and the North Atlantic Brygge in Copenhagen (2007) in collaboration with Tróndur Patursson, and a 7.5 meter high tower for Fredericia Brewery (1989) made in collaboration with world famous Danish artist, Bjørn Nørgaard – an impressive work consisting of more than 5000 individually shaped pieces of glass in an abundance of colours.
Per Hebsgaard works with flat, coloured glass, made in France and Germany from blown cylinders, which are cut open and flattened to 3-5 mm thick sheets. In Hebsgaard’s workshop, the sheets are carefully cut according to a template so that they fit perfectly into the overall picture. They are then secured by way of leaded frames or silicone. Hebsgaard also works with cast glass and glass painting, which demands thorough knowledge about glass firing and the qualities of the colours.
The exhibition presents some of the finest works from Hebsgaard’s workshop, such as Sven Dalsgaard’s famous chairs and Erik A. Frandsen’s 5 meter high boxing glove, along with new works, created especially for the exhibition and models of some of the commissioned works, made at Hebsgaard’s workshop. The exhibition also features a short film with English texts about Per Hebsgaard.
Per Steen Hebsgaard took a glazier apprenticeship and passed with a bronze medal in 1967. He was awarded the Applied Arts examination Silver medal (1975), the Thorvald Bindesbøll medal (2009) and works as a visiting professor at the Royal Swedish School of Art in Stockholm and The Academy of fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 1986 he established his own workshop HEBSGAARD A/S - ”Atelier for International Glass installations”. Since 1970 Per Hebsgaard has maintained the stained glass windows in Roskilde Cathedral.
FROM HEBSGAARD’S TREASURE TROVE can be seen until 1st May 2011.
- Film screening, every day during the museum’s opening hours: ”The Glass master”. 1990. Peter Christensen. (Peter Bech Sørensen Film).
Images in high resolution can be downloaded here.
Further information, please contact:
Executive Director, Dagmar Brendstrup, phone+ 45 8634 1799, e-mail: dab@glasmuseet.dk
or head of PR and communication, Pia Strandbygaard Bittner, phone+45 8634 1799, e-mail: pia@glasmuseet.dk
