Figure 1. Pascale Riberolles. Les grands

CONTEMPORARY FRENCH STUDIO GLASS: PART 2

Dirk Schrijvers

From the 1990’s to 2014
Another key moment in the contemporary French studio glass movement was the establishment of the “Centre Européen de Recherches et de Formation aux Arts Verriers” (CERFAV) in 1991. At first, its main aim was to give an impulse to the troubled French glass industry, with education of the artisanal and practical aspects of glass production, but it evolved rapidly to a place where the artistic aspects became more important. The educational program leads to the title of “Compagnon Verrier Européen”. Many of the younger French glass artists have been trained at this educational program. Some graduates of the CERFAV are working as designers of glass objects for companies but some of them started to work on artistic studio glass, of whom some are discussed below.

Posted 10 September 2014

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Pascale Riberolles (°1959) had a training in Applied Arts and was one of the first graduates of the CERFAV. She worked as a textile designer and stylist in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s, she began to work with glass, combining different materials as herbs, shells, dried flowers and plumes in her decorative vases and objects. Actually she makes different organic objects like lamps, vases and others with the combination of materials, including glass (Figure 1).


Figure 2. Catherine Farge. Elaphe (2012)		Catherine Farge (°1965) combines glass and wood to construct her objects. She uses “Cives”, perfect disks resulting from the opening up by centrifugal force of a blown glass bubble, with different iridescent colors, that are « burned » to obtain more unusual tones. By superimposing them she plays with the shades. Assembling them with wood came naturally and she likes the interaction between both materials (Figure 2).


Géraldine Duriaux (°1967) works with a päte-de-verre technique to continue the long tradition, especially by Daum, to produce animal sculptures. She wants to express her feelings and energy via the animal world and tries to capture their essence in pure forms, colors and lines (Figure 3).		Figure 3. Géraldine Duriaux. Chat Viverrinlt


Figure 4. Anne-Lise Riond-Sibony. Zephyr (2011)		Anne-Lise Riond-Sibony (°1967) started to work on blown forms, in which she translated experiences of her own life, portraits of herself or her environment, or painting of different painters. She also experimented with glass paintings, that are based on her 3-dimensional work inspired by religious and mythological themes and fishes (Figure 4). Her latest work in pâte-de-verre refers to the herself and the bible with themes around Adam and Eve (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Anne-Lise Riond-Sibony. Le désir d’Eve. (2014)


Isabelle Poilprez (°1968) learned glass blowing at Murano and worked in 2004 at Sars-Poteries with the dancer and choreographer Yutaka Takei on a project of combining glass and dance. From this cooperation the work “Cocoon” emerged, which was used in a choreography, in which the repetition of the glass work played a major role. On the theme of environment, she constructed sculptures associating glass, sand, raku and fusing (Figure 6).		Figure 6. Isabelle Poilprez


Figure 7. Gérald Vatrin. Couture II		Gérald Vatrin ‘s (°1971) vases are more objects by the texture, the combination of different techniques and the addition of other materials (Figure 7). His inspiration comes from all over the world but reflects his travel to Africa by color and imaging. Muriel Chéné (°1978) started to work in the pâte-de-verre technique to create her world of men and women, combined with other materials as reflections of daily life (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Muriel Chéné


		Anne Donzé (°1978) and Vincent Chagnon (°1980), who trained at the Espace Verre de Montréal in Canada, opened their own atelier and work mainly with glass sculptures and installations. They include the päte-de-verre technique in the blown glass to translate different aspects of humanity in their work (Figure 9).


Xavier le Normand ‘s (°1978) work is characterized by large spheres, made in multicolored blown glass and worked by delicate engraving. He examines the effect of different textures and colors in his work. His non-functional sculptures are inspired by imaginary geographics, craters and volcanos, and gaseous planets (Figure 10).


		Aurélie Abadie (°1983) and Sauques Samuel (°1977), graduating from the “BTS Arts céramiques” of the ASFO Limousin in Limoges, started their own studio in 2008 in Bretagne. They work in the pâte-de-verre technique to produce their sculptures. Their work is characterized by the search for a sensitivity to translate the hurdles of their universe and to fill the emptiness between bodies, rocks or emotions. They want to visualize their relationship with the world in the material of glass with the knowledge that they never completely will capture this relationship (Figure 11).


Pauline Bétin’s (°1986) main theme of work is the landscape. She is interested in spaces which mark the boundary between the urban and rural landscapes. Her works, executed in clear cast glass with imprinting bring into tension the borders between these two living spaces. Her pieces are poetic and reflective and question the relation (Figure 12).		Figure 12. Pauline Bétin. Electrique 2