ARTIST STATEMENTAs a child I was always drawing, and from the age of ten onwards, I was really drawn to watercolour. Looking back, I think watercolour has something innate that glass also has: a kind of transparency, immediacy and spontaneity. These same characteristics I found in glassblowing at a later age. Hot glass for me seems to be alive, the way that it flows and moves and radiates light, it totally fascinates me. I take photographs of things that interest me, sometimes not knowing why, and it may take five or ten years before a piece develops from a series of photographs or sketches or ideas that I have had.
The piece needs to have a movement in it. It needs to be alive; it needs to convey a message or a thought or feeling to another person. And glass to me is the perfect material to express movement. It is like wind; you don’t see wind, but you see trees moving, waves flowing. Everything is moving, nothing is static. And that is, for me, the essence of life. Life doesn’t stand still; it is always moving. I find that really exciting. |
ABOUTBibi Smit is a Dutch artist. Her work explores the patterns, rhythms and colours of movement in nature. Her creative process is focused on the relationship between natural phenomena and the fluidity of hot glass, original experimentation, and craftsmanship. By being able to control all processes, both in the hotshop and coldshop, her work shows an acute attention to detail and technique. She grew up in The Netherlands before attending West Surry College of Art and Design in Farnham, UK (BA 1988), where she was first introduced to glassblowing. Completely fascinated by this material and technique, she went on to learn more from Willem Heesen (Holland), David Kaplan (Scotland) and Boyd Sugiki (Pilchuck, USA).
Smit began exhibiting her work from 1990 and established her own studio in 1991. Her work can be found in galleries throughout Europe and het artwork is held in numerous collections and museums. In 2019, the documentary Moving Glass was selected for the North Lands Creative Film Festival. The Glassmaker episode from a World of Calm Series streaming at HBO Max, is a poetic narrative of her work and the power of nature. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Mauritshuis Museum, The Hague, she was commissioned to make an artwork. She designed and made a 6 meter high artwork, which was revealed in 2023 and which is on permanent display in the museum. The mini documentary Whirl of Life explores the creative processes behind this milestone artwork. Bibi Smit lives and works in the Netherlands. |