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{{Short description|Dutch sculptor, ceramicist and glass artist}} {{Short description|Dutch sculptor, ceramicist and glass artist}}
'''Barbara Nanning''' (born January 3, 1957, ], ]) is a Dutch designer, sculptor, monumental artist, ceramist and glass artist.<ref> at the Netherlands Institute for Art History</ref>
]
[[File:Barbara Nanning in haar showroom op WG-Plein 65 te Amsterdam. Foto- Almicheal Fraay @maikeljay.jpg|alt=Barbara Nanning in her showroom at WG-Plein 65 in Amsterdam. Foto- Almicheal Fraay @maikeljay.jpg|thumb|260x260px|Barbara Nanning in her showroom at WG-Plein 65 in Amsterdam.{{Infobox artist
]
| name = Barbara Nanning
'''Barbara Nanning''' (born January 3, 1957, ], ]) is a Dutch sculptor, ceramicist and glass artist.<ref> at the Netherlands Institute for Art History</ref>
| birth_date = January 3 1957
| birth_place = The Hague, The Netherlands
| nationality = Dutch
| website = https://www.barbarananning.nl/
| known_for = Glass art, ceramic art, sculptures, monumental art
}}
]]


== Life == == Education ==
Nanning studied at the ] from 1974 to 1979 under Harry op de Laak, ], and at the ] in Amsterdam in 1978.<ref name="capriolus"> at capriolus.nl. Accessed 24.05.2015.</ref> Nanning studied at the ] from 1974 to 1979 under ], department of Ceramic Design. During her training, Nanning completed an internship with the potter Pierre Mestre in La Borne, France. In 1978, Nanning completed a second internship with Harry op de Laak in the department of Monumental Design at the ] in Amsterdam.


== Work ==
In 1978–79 she started her own studio in Amsterdam-West, which she shared with ] until 1981, and Irene Vonck from 1981 to 1984. She made study trips to Mexico in 1982, to Cappadocië in Turkije in 1988, and to Japan in 1991.<ref name="capriolus"/>
From 1978 to 1985, Nanning worked from her studio home at the Amsterdam Chasséstraat. From 1978 to 1980,
she shared this studio with ceramicist ]. Since 1985, Nanning has been working in her studio at WG-Plein 21 in Amsterdam. Since 2001, Nanning also has a showroom there (WG-Plein 65).
], Amsterdam, 1979. From left to right: Barbara Nanning, Geert Lap, Cécile van Eeden (jewelry student), Paul van Leeuwen and Babs Haenen.]]
Her work can be found worldwide in the collections of 62 museums spread over 16 countries (including ], ] (Paris), ], ], ], and in private collections of ], ] and Mimi and ] among others).


== Ceramics ==
One of her first major solo exhibitions was in the Gallery Aspects in London in 1985; followed by solo-exhibitions in the ] in 1993 and 1998; at the Clara Scremini Gallery in Paris in 1995, 1996, 2002 and 2008; and at the Galerie Carla Koch in Amsterdam in 2008, 2009 and 2009, among other places.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525223812/http://www.barbarananning.nl/wp/wp-content/uploads/BarbaraNanningCVnieuw.pdf |date=2015-05-25 }} at barbarananning.nl. Accessed 25.05.2015.</ref>
Nanning began her career as a ]. She emphasized applying color to turned pots in her work, drawing on the color theory of the ]. Inspiration also came from the shapes of the bowls and platters made by the original inhabitants of ], as well as being influenced by the bright colors of textiles and plastic utensils from Mexico. She made bowls and vases adding colored Mexican yarns as decorative or constructive elements.


Autonomous ceramic objects arose from the bowl shapes, which she called 'Fossiele vormen' . During a study trip to ], Turkey, Nanning gained inspiration for works in fired stoneware clay. She made unglazed, twisted pot and vase forms that were wrapped with string. Bulges formed between the constrictions.
== Work ==
]
Although Nanning was trained as a ceramic designer, since 1995 she also made a lot of works with glass.<ref>Augustine, P. (2011), "Barbara Nanning creates its own universe" in ''Fjoezz 2011,'' no. 2, p. 4-9</ref> In addition to her smaller works, she regularly receives commissions for monumental works that were placed in the public space. Flowers thereby form a recurring topic, such as in the 11 ceramic flower shapes she made in 1999 for the National Police. In 2001 Nanning explained about the central theme in her work:
<blockquote>Nature is my source: plants, leaves, roots, water and the wind. Natural phenomena have been an everlasting inspiration for me, be it the Milky Way or the rise and fall of waves in an eternal, natural movement. In clay, my thrown shapes have evolved into concentric spinning objects without a beginning or end. They represent eternal movement, the primeval source of life on earth. In order to make these forms seem even more weightless, intangible and floating, I gave them a rich, velvety surface and a light monochrome colour.<ref name="BN 2001">Barbara Nanning interviewed by Liesbeth Crommelin for the Taipei County Yingko Ceramics Museum, Autumn 2001; cited in capriolus.nl, 2015.</ref></blockquote>


In 1990 she created the series 'Galaxy', which she showed at the Dutch event 'Keramiek '90'. In this series, Nanning did not use ] and ], but pure paint pigments. This technique not only made the ] unnecessary, but also allowed her to start using painterly colors for ceramics, without the color reflecting as with glossy glazes. Although this made all colors available, Nanning chose a limited palette of pure, unmixed pigments. She mixed these pigments with fine sand to soften the contours of her objects. The rotations in her objects reveal Nanning's fascination with perpetual motion. 'Galaxy' earned Nanning the Ceramics '90 award, and an invitation to participate in the 1991 ] in ], ].
And furthermore

<blockquote>Since 1990, colour has played an essential role in my work. I do not use traditional glazes, but bright-coloured pigments that belong to the domain of the painter. As a result, I have access to a palette of colours that is not normally a part of my field. Bright red, brilliant yellow, intense blue and deep purple give my work an unexpected dimension... I work in series, making groups of works based on a common theme, including the Galaxy, Terra, Hydras, Botanica and Coral Reef series. 'Siren' is a red sculpture from the Botanica series. It is formed from different hand thrown segments and hand-built leaves and is inspired by the Greek mythology. The Sirens were beautiful women with irresistible singing voices who lived in a treacherous rock formation in the middle of the sea. They had a fatal attraction on passing sailors. 'Siren' symbolises a freakish forbidden attraction.<ref name="BN 2001"/></blockquote>
Foreign trips, particularly to Japan, laid the foundation for Nannings' work. In Japan - and particularly in the dozens of small, stylized ] - she drew inspiration for bowls with parallel grooves and gnarled objects made of petrified wood with ceramic components in the 'Terra' series. In her work, Nanning strives for the sublime of stillness; a perfect finish, the omission of the superfluous and the serenity to get it right. A balance and harmony between the static and the dynamic, between growth and gravity.

Some single objects inspired by flower buds and seed capsules around 1996 developed into the series of objects in monochromatic colors 'Botanica'.<gallery widths="180" heights="180">
File:Barbara Nanning draait 'Fossiele vormen' en 'Galaxy'.jpg|Barbara Nanning turns 'Fossiele vormen' and 'Galaxy', 1990, WG-Plein 21, Amsterdam.
File:Barbara Nanning, Galaxy, 1991. Collectie Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Galaxy - Japanese Wave, 1991. Collection ], Haarlem.
File:Galaxy 1990 27x27x20 cm coll Premsela Design.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Galaxy, 1990. Collection: former ].
File:Galaxy 2005 81x50x33 cm coll Mus Princessehof Leeuwarden.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Galaxy, 2005. Collection ], Leeuwarden.
</gallery><gallery widths="180" heights="180">
File:1992 45x45x10 Sted Mus Amsterdam boek (2).tif|Barbara Nanning, Terra, 1992. Collection ].
File:129 1992 70x cm Mus Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Terra, 1992. Collection ], Rotterdam.
File:Barbara Nanning, 'Sirene' uit de serie Botanica, 1999. Collectie New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan.tif|Barbara Nanning, 'Sirene' from the series Botanica, 1999. Collection , Taiwan.
File:HAL 14 flowers Basismodel 1997 80x75x40 cm.jpg|Barbara Nanning, 'Flowers' from the series Botanica, 1997.
</gallery>

== Monumental ==
In 1982, Nanning received her first monumental commission. For a social housing complex on the 'Ceramplein' in Amsterdam, she designed a wall with incorporated seating element made of glazed bricks for the building's entrance portal. At the end of the 1980s, Nanning made her first sculptures for public spaces from ceramic objects that became increasingly larger. For example, she made the sculpture 'Rotations I', measuring 170 x 200 cm, for ]. Three years later, commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam, Nanning made 'Draaiingen II' for the campus of the ] main faculty. With architect ], Nanning designed in CAD / CAM the monument to ]. Thanks to the digital script with all the benchmarks, the 'Monument to Mt. Fuji Volcano: Petrified Dynamic Flow', was then made in Japan and placed in ], Japan in 2007.

Monumental commissions for public spaces in ], and in Wako City, ], followed in 1997. In 2002 and 2003, Nanning made an installation of flowers, 'Fleurs de Mer I-II' in polyurethane, gilded with gold leaf, decorating the ceilings of the dining rooms in the cruise ships ] and ] of the ]. Commissioned by the Board of Directors of ], Nanning created the flowers 'Seres', inspired by lush leaves that seem to sway in the wind. For these flowers, she experimented with the still soft material that she prematurely removed from the molds.

In 2010, Nanning designed 24 windows in a residential building on the Ruyterstraat in ]. As the basis for the various burned-in colorful 'float' windows, Nanning made small ] glass sheets, which she then processed by computer. The float windows were manufactured in the (then new) SGG CREA-LITE COLOR decorative technique.<gallery widths="270" heights="200">
File:Draaiingen Nanning 1989 WG Plein 21 Amsterdam.jpg|Barbara Nanning with the monumental sculpture in ferrocement 'Draaiingen I', 1989. Collection ], Enschede.
File:Barbara Nanning Bloem KLPD Driebergen.tif|Barbara Nanning with 'Reclining Flower', 1999, for ] ]], Driebergen.
File:Monument voor de vulkaan Mt. Fuji- Petrified Dynamic Flow, Japan 1997.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Monument for the volcano Mt. Fuji: Petrified Dynamic Flow, Gotemba City, Japan 2007.
</gallery><gallery widths="250" heights="300">
File:Barbara Nanning Bloemen plafond ms Zuiderdam 2002 2003.tif|Barbara Nanning, Fleurs de Mer I, polyurethane gilded with gold leaf, cruise ship dining room ceiling ] (]), 2002-2003.
File:SERES ABN AMRO.tif|Barbara Nanning, 'Seres', ] Amsterdam, 2004.
File:SERES ABN AMRO knop 272x180 cm.jpg|Barbara Nanning, 'Seres', ] Amsterdam, 2004.
</gallery><gallery widths="400" heights="150">
File:Barbara Nanning, 'Hemel', Ramen voor Woongebouw Huizen, 2010..jpg|Barbara Nanning, 'Hemel' , Windows for residential building Huizen, 2010.
File:Barbara Nanning, 'Aarde', Ramen voor Woongebouw Huizen, 2010..jpg|Barbara Nanning, 'Aarde' , Windows for residential building Huizen, 2010.
</gallery>

== Glass ==
] (or: canes) for Barbara Nanning's 'Gekleurde schaduwen' and 'Byzantium' series.]]
At the invitation of the ] and the ], Nanning worked with glass for the first time in 1994. She made blown objects that were reshaped by sawing them and then grinding and polishing them. Nanning worked at Royal Leerdam, the ], the Amsterdam glass studio ] and ] in ], focusing more and more on working with glass.

Since 2001, Nanning has been carrying out her glass designs at glassmaking studio Ajeto in Lindava, ]. In this workshop, Nanning can work with multiple layers of color and, under her watchful eye, lobed shapes are blown, cut, polished and sandblasted.
]
Several worlds are united in Nannings glass objects. Her imagery is based on classical Bohemian cut glass, decorative Japanese floral motifs, modern optical cut glass, nature and ]. She uses the ] technique and collaborates with gilder ], conservator ] a galerie ], Czech Republic, for this purpose. The name Verre églomisé comes from Frenchman ] who revived this ancient technique.

Nanning starts each unique object from a circle, which she calls the basic shape in nature. From there the movement comes and the form is determined. It often comes from experiments with ], fusing, ] and gilding. In photographs, sketches and drawings, Nanning records her inspiration. From a fascination with form, structure and geometry, she studies crystals, jellyfish, flowers and microorganisms. In her work, she seeks the contrast between order and chaos, hard and soft, rigid and supple. After form follows color.

Nanning works not only with blown glass, but also with fused flat glass. She incorporates these as windows in her monumental commissions. She also made cabinets with decorative glass panels in intensive collaboration with the Amsterdam furniture maker ]. The spirit of the Bauhaus, where intensive interaction between artists of different disciplines in their studios and craftsmen in their workshops served the final product, continued in this collaboration.

In her work process, Nanning unites classical craft with experimentation and innovative use of materials. With research organization TNO and companies such as Polarttech and Hyperlast, Nanning collaborated to develop new materials.

The installation 'Eternal Spring' consists of glass-blown and hand-formed snow-white branches protruding from wall, table and floor objects, from knots of pollarded willows or from corals. With the gilded bouquets, Nanning translates the baroque design of the eighteenth century into a twenty-first contemporary design language.<gallery widths="250" heights="200">
File:Barbara Nanning en Godfried Brands, Cabinet Mikado, 2000. Collectie Design Museum, Gent..jpg|Barbara Nanning and ], Cabinet Mikado, 2000. Collection ], Gent.
File:Barbara Nanning, Eeuwige Lente, 2010-2021.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Eeuwige Lente , 2011.
File:Eeuwige lente 2011 Bomba 60x50x53 cm.jpg|Barbara Nanning, 'Bomba' from the series 'Eeuwige Lente' , 2011.
</gallery>In the series 'Gekleurde schaduwen' , Nanning draws with glass, drawing along with the form. Here she applies the age-old ] technique in a completely unique way. Drawing glass threads composed of multiple layers of color is all about drawing and variety. Whimsicality and size evoke an image of cell division in nature. The colors lie on top of each other like thin layers and fold into the blown-out curves; they seem to detach from each other like Colored Shadows. Form and color become a still life.

In 2020, in close collaboration with Czech grinder ], Nanning launched the Chimaera series, for which she uses ] and ] glass. With saw cuts and polished facets, she brought depth and optical effects to the objects.

In her series 'Byzantium', Nanning drew inspiration from the grandiose color splendor of ]. The painter ] gave it his own interpretation in the early 20th century, when he created the ] in the dining room of ] in Brussels. Nanning translates the reinterpretation of the Byzantine mosaics by gilding open spaces between the glass canes with 23.5 carats of gold leaf, so that its forms now display an unprecedented richness.

The United Nations (]) declared the year 2022 as the ] (IYOG2022). Barbara Nanning was then elected Dutch Artist of the Year. This makes her the first glass artist to receive this honorary title.<gallery widths="250" heights="200">
File:Barbara Nanning, 'Verre églomisé, Collectie Kunstmuseum Den Haag.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Verre églomisé, 2018. , Den Haag.
File:Barbara Nanning, Verre églomisé, 2002-2023.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Verre églomisé, 2002-2023.
File:Verre eglomise met canes 29x29x17 cm.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Verre églomisé with canes, 2002-2023.
</gallery><gallery widths="250" heights="200">
File:2016 Emerald.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Emerald, 2016.
File:Barbara Nanning, Gekleurde schaduwen, 2015-2023..jpg|Barbara Nanning, Gekleurde schaduwen , 2015-2023.
File:B Byzantium II 26x34x22 cm m.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Byzantium II, 2022.
</gallery><gallery widths="250" heights="200">
File:Barbara Nanning, Object, 2014.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Glass object with colored borders, 2014.
File:Barbara Nanning A Chimaera 22x18x19 cm 2020-2023.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Chimaera, 2020-2023.
File:Barbara Nanning A Chimaera 24x24x23 cm 2020-2023.jpg|Barbara Nanning, Chimaera, 2020-2023.
</gallery>


== Works (selection) == == Works (selection) ==
* 2008 '']'', ]
* 1997 ''Liggende bloem'', ]
* 2007 ''Petrified Dynamic Flows'' (]-monument) in ]
* 1999 ''Bloemknoppen'', at the Korps Landelijke Politiediensten (KLPD) in ]
* 2004 ''Vis-à-Vis'', Wako City, Saitama, Japan
* 2007 ''Petrified Dynamic Flows,'' Fuji-monument in ]
* 2002-2003 ''Fleurs de Mer I – II'', ms. ] en ms. ]
* 2001 ''Ramen'', Uitvaartcentrum ], Utrecht
* 1999 ''Bloemknoppen'', bij het ] in ]
* 1999 ''Galaxy'', ]/TPD, ]
* 1997 ''Liggende bloem'', ]
* 1992 ''Infinite Movement'', ]


== Solo exhibitions (selection) ==
== Further reading ==

* L. Crommelin, P. Donker-Duyvis, Barbara Nanning, ''Galaxy & Terra, Ceramics - Reizen in tijd en ruimte'', Amsterdam, 1993.
* ], ''Barbara Nanning Evolution,'' Amsterdam, 1993 {{ISBN|90-6617-106-5}}. * 2022-2023 ], 'Barbara Nanning. Bewogen verstilling'
* 2019 ], ‘Barbara Nanning. Eeuwige Beweging’
* 2016 , ‘Barbara Nanning. Gekleurde Schaduwen in Glas’, 2016
* 2012 ], ‘Barbara Nanning. Eeuwige Lente’
* 2011 , Coesfeld, ‘Barbara Nanning. Ewiger Frühling – Eternal Spring’
* 2003 ], ‘Barbara Nanning. Evolution’
* 2001 , ‘Barbara Nanning. Fleurs de Verre’
* 1993 ], 'Barbara Nanning. Terra. Reizen in tijd en ruimte'

== Books ==

* Titus Eliëns, Barbara Nanning – Eeuwige beweging. Keramiek, installaties en glaskunst , Zwolle 2019. {{ISBN|9789462622555}}
* Titus Eliëns, Barbara Nanning – Eternal Movement. Ceramics, Installations and Glass Art , Zwolle 2019. {{ISBN|9789462622562}}
* Thimo te Duits, Barbara Nanning, Barbara nanning_evolution , Amsterdam 2003. {{ISBN|9090173692}}
* Liesbeth Crommelin, Paul Donker-Duyvis, Barbara Nanning, Galaxy & Terra, Ceramics - Reizen in tijd en ruimte , Amsterdam 1993. {{ISBN|9066171065}}


== See also == == See also ==
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* Category ] of ] for media files on this subject


== References == == References ==
Line 36: Line 135:


== External links == == External links ==
{{Commons category|Barbara Nanning}}
* website
* at capriolus.nl
* {{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at ].


*
*
*
*
*
* at capriolus.nl
{{ACArt}} {{ACArt}}


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] ]
] ]
]

Revision as of 18:33, 5 March 2024

Dutch sculptor, ceramicist and glass artist

Barbara Nanning (born January 3, 1957, The Hague, The Netherlands) is a Dutch designer, sculptor, monumental artist, ceramist and glass artist.

Barbara Nanning in her showroom at WG-Plein 65 in Amsterdam. Foto- Almicheal Fraay @maikeljay.jpg
Barbara Nanning in her showroom at WG-Plein 65 in Amsterdam.
Barbara Nanning
BornJanuary 3 1957
The Hague, The Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Known forGlass art, ceramic art, sculptures, monumental art
Websitehttps://www.barbarananning.nl/

Education

Nanning studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy from 1974 to 1979 under Jan van der Vaart, department of Ceramic Design. During her training, Nanning completed an internship with the potter Pierre Mestre in La Borne, France. In 1978, Nanning completed a second internship with Harry op de Laak in the department of Monumental Design at the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.

Work

From 1978 to 1985, Nanning worked from her studio home at the Amsterdam Chasséstraat. From 1978 to 1980, she shared this studio with ceramicist Geert Lap. Since 1985, Nanning has been working in her studio at WG-Plein 21 in Amsterdam. Since 2001, Nanning also has a showroom there (WG-Plein 65).

File:Eindexamen Gerrit Rietveld Academie 1979.jpg
Graduation Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, 1979. From left to right: Barbara Nanning, Geert Lap, Cécile van Eeden (jewelry student), Paul van Leeuwen and Babs Haenen.

Her work can be found worldwide in the collections of 62 museums spread over 16 countries (including Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Design Museum Gent, Metropolitan Museum Seoul, and in private collections of Airbus, Fundación Picasso and Mimi and Bill Gates Sr. among others).

Ceramics

Nanning began her career as a ceramicist. She emphasized applying color to turned pots in her work, drawing on the color theory of the Bauhaus. Inspiration also came from the shapes of the bowls and platters made by the original inhabitants of Mexico, as well as being influenced by the bright colors of textiles and plastic utensils from Mexico. She made bowls and vases adding colored Mexican yarns as decorative or constructive elements.

Autonomous ceramic objects arose from the bowl shapes, which she called 'Fossiele vormen' . During a study trip to Cappadocia, Turkey, Nanning gained inspiration for works in fired stoneware clay. She made unglazed, twisted pot and vase forms that were wrapped with string. Bulges formed between the constrictions.

In 1990 she created the series 'Galaxy', which she showed at the Dutch event 'Keramiek '90'. In this series, Nanning did not use glazes and engobes, but pure paint pigments. This technique not only made the kiln unnecessary, but also allowed her to start using painterly colors for ceramics, without the color reflecting as with glossy glazes. Although this made all colors available, Nanning chose a limited palette of pure, unmixed pigments. She mixed these pigments with fine sand to soften the contours of her objects. The rotations in her objects reveal Nanning's fascination with perpetual motion. 'Galaxy' earned Nanning the Ceramics '90 award, and an invitation to participate in the 1991 International Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramics in Shigaraki, Japan.

Foreign trips, particularly to Japan, laid the foundation for Nannings' work. In Japan - and particularly in the dozens of small, stylized Zen gardens - she drew inspiration for bowls with parallel grooves and gnarled objects made of petrified wood with ceramic components in the 'Terra' series. In her work, Nanning strives for the sublime of stillness; a perfect finish, the omission of the superfluous and the serenity to get it right. A balance and harmony between the static and the dynamic, between growth and gravity.

Some single objects inspired by flower buds and seed capsules around 1996 developed into the series of objects in monochromatic colors 'Botanica'.

Monumental

In 1982, Nanning received her first monumental commission. For a social housing complex on the 'Ceramplein' in Amsterdam, she designed a wall with incorporated seating element made of glazed bricks for the building's entrance portal. At the end of the 1980s, Nanning made her first sculptures for public spaces from ceramic objects that became increasingly larger. For example, she made the sculpture 'Rotations I', measuring 170 x 200 cm, for Rijksmuseum Twenthe. Three years later, commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam, Nanning made 'Draaiingen II' for the campus of the Vrije Universiteit's main faculty. With architect Paul van Leeuwen, Nanning designed in CAD / CAM the monument to Mt. Fuji volcano. Thanks to the digital script with all the benchmarks, the 'Monument to Mt. Fuji Volcano: Petrified Dynamic Flow', was then made in Japan and placed in Gotemba City, Japan in 2007.

Monumental commissions for public spaces in Aalsmeer, and in Wako City, Saitama, followed in 1997. In 2002 and 2003, Nanning made an installation of flowers, 'Fleurs de Mer I-II' in polyurethane, gilded with gold leaf, decorating the ceilings of the dining rooms in the cruise ships ms Zuiderdam and ms Oosterdam of the Holland-America Line. Commissioned by the Board of Directors of ABN AMRO Bank, Nanning created the flowers 'Seres', inspired by lush leaves that seem to sway in the wind. For these flowers, she experimented with the still soft material that she prematurely removed from the molds.

In 2010, Nanning designed 24 windows in a residential building on the Ruyterstraat in Huizen. As the basis for the various burned-in colorful 'float' windows, Nanning made small fusing glass sheets, which she then processed by computer. The float windows were manufactured in the (then new) SGG CREA-LITE COLOR decorative technique.

  • Barbara Nanning, 'Hemel' , Windows for residential building Huizen, 2010. Barbara Nanning, 'Hemel' , Windows for residential building Huizen, 2010.
  • Barbara Nanning, 'Aarde' , Windows for residential building Huizen, 2010. Barbara Nanning, 'Aarde' , Windows for residential building Huizen, 2010.

Glass

File:Barbara Nanning, Glazen canes die worden gebruikt voor Byzantium.jpg
Glass murrines (or: canes) for Barbara Nanning's 'Gekleurde schaduwen' and 'Byzantium' series.

At the invitation of the National Glass Museum and the Royal Leerdam Glass Factory, Nanning worked with glass for the first time in 1994. She made blown objects that were reshaped by sawing them and then grinding and polishing them. Nanning worked at Royal Leerdam, the Glascentrum Leerdam, the Amsterdam glass studio Van Tetterode and Vrij Glas in Zaanstad, focusing more and more on working with glass.

Since 2001, Nanning has been carrying out her glass designs at glassmaking studio Ajeto in Lindava, Czech Republic. In this workshop, Nanning can work with multiple layers of color and, under her watchful eye, lobed shapes are blown, cut, polished and sandblasted.

File:2016 AJETO Barbara (2).jpg
Barbara Nanning working with her team in glassblowing studio Ajeto in Lindava, Czech Republic, 2006.

Several worlds are united in Nannings glass objects. Her imagery is based on classical Bohemian cut glass, decorative Japanese floral motifs, modern optical cut glass, nature and crystallography. She uses the verre églomisé technique and collaborates with gilder Václav Novák, conservator Vlastivědné muzeum a galerie Česká Lípa, Czech Republic, for this purpose. The name Verre églomisé comes from Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Glomy who revived this ancient technique.

Nanning starts each unique object from a circle, which she calls the basic shape in nature. From there the movement comes and the form is determined. It often comes from experiments with pâte de verre, fusing, glassblowing and gilding. In photographs, sketches and drawings, Nanning records her inspiration. From a fascination with form, structure and geometry, she studies crystals, jellyfish, flowers and microorganisms. In her work, she seeks the contrast between order and chaos, hard and soft, rigid and supple. After form follows color.

Nanning works not only with blown glass, but also with fused flat glass. She incorporates these as windows in her monumental commissions. She also made cabinets with decorative glass panels in intensive collaboration with the Amsterdam furniture maker Godfried Brands. The spirit of the Bauhaus, where intensive interaction between artists of different disciplines in their studios and craftsmen in their workshops served the final product, continued in this collaboration.

In her work process, Nanning unites classical craft with experimentation and innovative use of materials. With research organization TNO and companies such as Polarttech and Hyperlast, Nanning collaborated to develop new materials.

The installation 'Eternal Spring' consists of glass-blown and hand-formed snow-white branches protruding from wall, table and floor objects, from knots of pollarded willows or from corals. With the gilded bouquets, Nanning translates the baroque design of the eighteenth century into a twenty-first contemporary design language.

In the series 'Gekleurde schaduwen' , Nanning draws with glass, drawing along with the form. Here she applies the age-old Murrine technique in a completely unique way. Drawing glass threads composed of multiple layers of color is all about drawing and variety. Whimsicality and size evoke an image of cell division in nature. The colors lie on top of each other like thin layers and fold into the blown-out curves; they seem to detach from each other like Colored Shadows. Form and color become a still life.

In 2020, in close collaboration with Czech grinder Aleš Zvěřina, Nanning launched the Chimaera series, for which she uses alexandrite and uranium glass. With saw cuts and polished facets, she brought depth and optical effects to the objects.

In her series 'Byzantium', Nanning drew inspiration from the grandiose color splendor of Byzantine mosaics. The painter Gustav Klimt gave it his own interpretation in the early 20th century, when he created the Stoclet frieze in the dining room of Palais Stoclet in Brussels. Nanning translates the reinterpretation of the Byzantine mosaics by gilding open spaces between the glass canes with 23.5 carats of gold leaf, so that its forms now display an unprecedented richness.

The United Nations (UNESCO) declared the year 2022 as the United Nations International Year of Glass (IYOG2022). Barbara Nanning was then elected Dutch Artist of the Year. This makes her the first glass artist to receive this honorary title.

Works (selection)

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Books

  • Titus Eliëns, Barbara Nanning – Eeuwige beweging. Keramiek, installaties en glaskunst , Zwolle 2019. ISBN 9789462622555
  • Titus Eliëns, Barbara Nanning – Eternal Movement. Ceramics, Installations and Glass Art , Zwolle 2019. ISBN 9789462622562
  • Thimo te Duits, Barbara Nanning, Barbara nanning_evolution , Amsterdam 2003. ISBN 9090173692
  • Liesbeth Crommelin, Paul Donker-Duyvis, Barbara Nanning, Galaxy & Terra, Ceramics - Reizen in tijd en ruimte , Amsterdam 1993. ISBN 9066171065

See also

References

  1. Biographical data at the Netherlands Institute for Art History

External links

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