The phenomenon of glass is based on dualities; it is liquid and solid, cold and hot, fragile and durable. The process of assimilating and accepting these contradictions is akin to balancing on a tightrope suspended in the air. It is a kind of training and meditation. I will take the audience on a journey through the meanderings of my creative process and introduce the specifics of working with glass matter. In the process, chemistry merges with aesthetics, physics intertwines with metaphor. I will present some of my projects where the process and circumstances themselves were crucial to the final implementation. I will share my perception and way of experiencing matter in process.
“In design I am attentive and tender, I look deeply into the eyes and listen. I tease the senses and minds by serving a void for reflection in glass vessels. I create objects and artefacts with the intention that they support us in experiencing life, in building relationships with others and with ourselves, and that they help us to breathe in a nourishing state of contemplation.”
Agnieszka Aleksandra Bar was born in the Sudetes, a region with a rich glass-making tradition. She grew up in a home where crafts were important, and grew up believing that the work of her hands had great value and gave others joy to use. This conviction serves her to this day. She deals with glass matter. She is attracted to the heat of the glass-making furnace. She treats traditional techniques with respect but also indulgently, often experimenting to achieve the desired visual metaphor. She creates short series and unique pieces, in cooperation with craftsmen and glass-making centres in Poland and abroad. She has designed for Antonius Caviar, Tre Products and EXPO Dubai, among others. She studied at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, where she graduated with a degree in Design: Glass Design (2007). She studied applied arts at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava (2006) and at the Technic University in Liberec (2004). She did her apprenticeship at the Krosno Glassworks and the now defunct Tarnów Glassworks. Co-founder of the WZOROWO Design Group (2009–2014) together with Agnieszka Kajper and Karina Marusińska, focused on design activities in the field of glass and ceramics, artistic and educational projects.
She has conducted research and educational projects in the Department of Glass at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and implemented her own educational programme in the Applied Glass Design Studio of Prof. Kazimierz Pawlak (2011-2021). Scholarship holder of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. She has participated in prestigious design exhibitions and festivals since 2008, including: London Design Festival, Milan Design Week, Paris Design Week, Vienna Design Week, Gdynia Design Days, Łódź Design Festiwal, Designblok. Winner of the 2019 Mazda Design Award, and the Must Have and Good Design plebiscites. Her works are part of the art and design collections of, among others, the National Museum in Kraków, PURO Hotels in Łódź and Kraków, the National Museum in Wrocław, the Museum – Kaszuby Ethnographic Park.
17.05.2023, 6 pm
20 Gdańska St.
