Four gems of the Academie Berchem

12-26/6

This year, 4 students are graduating from the glass department of the ‘Academie’ in Berchem, Belgium. One of them completed the basic training of 4 years and the other three their specialization after 6 years.
The graduation work reflects the diversity that is offered during the training in techniques and the individual expression of the students.

Eliane Abbeloos
Eliane Abbeloos (1950) trained as a dental technician and worked at the Vlaamse Opera (Flemish Opera). After a collective redundancy, she went through a difficult period and did find support in a training in ceramics at the Academie in Berchem. In this material she found relief and worked on the theme of ‘immobilization’ (dissolved in petrifaction). The factor of transparency that was lacking in ceramics she expected to find in the material glass. This was her motivation to start a training at the glass department. She wanted to combine both materials to explore unity in diversity; transparency versus solid; black versus white, yin versus yang.
“While ceramic is a material that is easily manageable and the artist is master of the material, this is not the case with glass. This material requires a high technical skill and even then you do not always get what you want with the material. However, glass is very attractive due to its transparency. I learned by failure and success to bend the material to my will.”
For her graduation work she wanted to explore the complementarity and difference between glass and ceramics. She started with a complex form of spikes referring to stalactites. After cutting the spikes, she developed rounded forms that looked like the bark of a tree. The addition of transparent glass adds to the strength of the work.
After graduation, she wants to explore the combination of different materials even further. A next project is the combination of wood and glass but there is no limit in materials.

Walter De Ridder
Walter De Ridder (1954) finishes his graduation year with an exploration of monumental constructions inspired by the architecture of Santiago Calatrava. The work of this architect combines movement and lines leading to an organic construction. De Ridder wants to capture this movement that also inspires rest in his graduation work.
The first piece called ‘Movement in rest’ explores the combination of forms and lines to create a movement. The work consists of different casted Swedish Cristal glass plates that are based on triangles. They are combined in a construction of steel rods so that both the glass and the steel give a feeling of organic flow. The second work ‘Tension in rest’ is a piece of 9 large individual glass parts, combining transparent and sandblasted glass. They offer the possibility to combine the pieces, of which 4 are identical pairs, in different ways to a larger work that show again a flowing line referring to Calatrava’s architecture.
“I like to work in the space to create large works that incorporate a certain monumentality while the transparency of glass takes away the boundaries.”

Monique Van Boeckel
Monique Van Boeckel (1956) is a professional physiotherapist , who studied for 8 years at the ceramic department of the Academie of Hoboken, Belgium. She was intrigued by the transparency of porcelain and its interaction with light. After seeing works in glass, she enrolled for the glass department of Berchem. She experienced this training as though due to the difficulties encountered with the material, but she was able to grow and create the work she wanted to achieve.
For her graduation after 4 years of training, she explores the theme of puzzles. “When I am stressed, I puzzle because of the necessary concentration that shifts my attention from the problem to a more serene state. This refreshes me and replenishes my energy.” She started from a square and adapted this form by deleting and adding some parts. This led to a series of pieces that can be combined into different 2- and 3-dimensional constructions. Each piece of the puzzle is made by fusing. “All but one of the 20 pieces are made in transparent purple glass except for one which is blue. By different surfaces, structures and colour shades, each piece is unique. This translates that every man is an individual but has to live in society. The whole is more than the sum of the individual pieces, as in daily living.”
She will continue her education in the specialization years and wants to explore the possibility of working in 3 dimensions.

Freddy Kooymans
Freddy Kooymans (1949) finishes his specialization with engraved glass plates. He studied drawing, painting, restoration and finally glass during different periods and this led to the current graduation work. The loss of his mother inspired the first work. Her image is presented in 5 different engraved glass plates that are mounted one after the other. The depth of the constructions adds something to the drawing and makes the work 3-dimensional. The work induced a reappearing of the feeling he experienced after his mother’s death, and confronted him with this period of grief and depression. However, it was a kind of therapy and led to a more positive image of the past with the happy memories that were linked to his life. To express these feelings, he created other work in the same techniques to show happy moments such as visiting the beach, the park and other joyful moments he experienced. In the next years he wants to study sculpture to better define his thoughts in relation to his place in society.

Work of the graduates will be presented at the graduation show ‘O’Final’ from 12 to 26 June 2013 at SD WORX, Brouwersvliet 2, B-2000 Antwerpen. Mon-Fri, 9am-8pm; closed on Saturdays & Sundays.
www.stedelijkonderwijs.be/academie-berchem-bk/schoolkalender/ofinal-afstudeerprojecten-2013