Artist of the Month
February 2022
Anja Isphording
German-born artist Anja Isphording, who casts glass using the lost wax method, studied glass design and engraving in Zwiesel, Germany, and under the tutelege of Vladimir Kopecky at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague. In the 1990s, she also had a CGCA fellowship at WheatonArts, and took classes at Pilchuck Glass School. She now lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. Isphording is represented by Heller Gallery in New York City.
Click on each photo to the right for a full picture.
#177, 2020; 10 x 11 x 11 inches; kiln cast glass/lost wax technique
#164, 2017; 14 x 15 x 15 inches; kiln cast glass/lost wax technique
#172, 2019; 8 x 10 x 10 inches; kiln cast glass/lost wax technique
#182, 2021; 15 x 11 x 11 inches; kiln cast glass/lost wax technique
#181, 2021; 11-1/2 x 14 x 14 inches; kiln cast glass/lost wax technique
#185, 2021; 11 x 11 x 11 inches; kiln cast glass/lost wax technique
#184, 2021; 8 x 9-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches; kiln cast glass/lost wax technique
Anja Isphording
About Anja Isphording
Anja Isphording is an artist who reinterprets the familiar in ways that make us see our world in a new light. With glass as her medium and lost wax casting as her primary technique she creates idiosyncratic sculptures always looking familiar enough for us to recognize that they are inspired by nature, yet rarely resembling anything that we have actually encountered.
Juried into the Corning Museum of Glass prestigious annual New Glass Review an unprecedented ten times, Anja is a multiple award-winning artist who studied glass in Germany and in the Czech Republic. Since 2000 she has lived and worked in Canada. Her works are represented in numerous public collections including the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, Museum of American Glass, Wheaton, NJ, Glass Museum Kamenicky Senov, Czech Republic, Museum of applied Arts, Frankfurt and Kuntsgewerbemuseum, Berlin Germany, among others.
Many consider her intimate sculptures among the most intriguing objects ever made from glass. They embody a sense of reverence for nature's mysteries and explore the patterns and structures of nature without ever literally reproducing them, often they evoke a mood as much as an image. Plants and marine creatures may echo in the forms, but ultimately, they are guided by Anja’s exquisite imagination.
Even though Isphording maintains a full-time studio practice, demanding technical challenges, coupled with the complexity of her forms, conspire to limit her output. First modeled full-size in wax and then cast in glass, her intricate compositions often require multiple firings. When finished, the sculptures have a tactile quality and emotional range that sets them apart from contemporary trends and renders them timeless. Each piece takes months to create – follow this link to learn more about her process.
Click here for an artist's resume.
Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Heller Gallery, New York, NY, for providing the Artist of the Month.
The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) is a not-for-profit organization and leading resource for glass collectors, art enthusiasts, artists, gallerists, museum personnel, and educators on all things related to glass art. AACG provides a collaborative place for robust conversations about glass art, including its production, techniques, and trends. We also encourage and support the glass community through annual grants and artist scholarships.
