Bertil Vallien
Swedish, born 1938Barca II, 2000
Not on view
Sand cast glass, steel base
Dimensions8 3/4 × 63 × 6 in. (22.2 × 160 × 15.2 cm)
Courtesy of the Isabel Foundation, L2017.11
While many of the artists in this exhibition prefer kiln casting where solid glass slowly melts into the mold, Bertil Vallien ladles molten glass directly into a mold, a process known as hot pour casting. There are many different ways to create artwork with this technique but Vallien is renowned for sand casting. Because sand has a very high melting point it is a great material for a mold. A model of the original artwork, in this case a boat form, is pressed into a container of sand and carefully removed to leave an impression of the object. Molten glass is poured into the mold where the sand absorbs some of the heat. Once the object is solid enough to be removed from the mold it is placed in an annealing oven to continue the cooling process. Objects that are sand cast often have a rough texture where the two materials come in contact. Artists like Vallien use powdered color for emphasis and imbed other objects inside the sculpture.
One of Vallien’s largest artworks is on view in the Fleckenstein gallery.
