Artist of the Month
October 2022
Peter Bremers
Dutch-born artist Peter Bremers is renowned for his cast glass sculptures. Drawing inspiration from his many travels, his work is influenced by the most extreme of nature’s landscapes, ranging from the icebergs of Antarctica to the canyons and deserts of The Four Corners in the American Southwest. Bremers’ masterful use of light, form, and color expertly captures the beauty of the world around us. Bremers is represented by Shaw Gallery, Naples, Florida.
Click on each photo to the right for a full picture.
Compassion, 2020; 51.6 x 9.8 x 8 inches; cast glass
Icebergs & Paraphernalia, 2017; 36 x 28 x 9 inches; cast glass
Matters of the Heart, 2015; 39 x 21 x 5 inches; cast glass
Emerging Space, 2019; 73 x 22 x 8 inches; cast glass
Sweet Space, 2019; 46 x 21 x 6 inches; cast glass
Amazone, 2021; 31 x 16 x 12 inches; cast glass
Peter Bremers
Artist Statement:
Making art is a dedication to creation. It is a spiritual quest, an act of love and… a challenging exciting journey.
To decide what needs to be created demands a strange mix of self-reflection, responsiveness to the world we’re in, seeking inspiration and discriminating what has merit to be pursued. How one gets inspired is such a personal and often intuitive or even spiritual process. For me it can be almost anything: a book, a song, an unexpected encounter with another being, or even a bad news message on CNN. Especially traveling and nature seem to touch and excite me profoundly. Most of all it is a combination of all of that and more, as one is so often linked to the other. Traveling brings me to new places and always initiates new ideas; through the people I meet, sounds, smells, tastes, landscapes, cultures, thoughts, dreams, etcetera. It accumulates in 4-dimensional “realities” that exist only because of the world and me in a continuous ever-changing relationship. I look at our world but am an intricate part of it as well. I am a witness and a participant. That often puzzles my mind, challenges my heart, and questions my soul. It is a journey into understanding who I am, how I want to communicate with the world, the time we are in, and what I believe needs to be put into form as a valuable addition to the vast ocean of 'stuff' that is being made in the name of art. It is a humbling experience. It makes me insecure, at times even depressed, frustrated or… utterly blissful, mostly!
To create is not a choice but a necessity; it is my life and my ‘raison d’etre’ as well as my greatest joy. In art I feel most bonded with my spirit, Source, nature, the world, mankind, and the Universe.
My attempt, to my best ability, is to give my ever-changing vision of beauty to this world to counter the vast mass of manmade ugliness. It’s up to the world to decide if it is of any value.
About Peter Bremers
Peter Bremers was born in the town of Maastricht in 1957, where he studied sculpture at the University of Fine Arts from 1976 to 1980 and three-dimensional design at the Jan van Eyck Academy from 1986 to 1988. During this time, he began working with a vast array of materials including glass, plastic, steel, and stone. Through his studies, Peter discovered a love for light and form, which resulted in the creation of light-sculptures. It was after attending a glassblowing workshop at the Jan van Eyck Academy with Dutch glass artists Andries Copier (1901-1991), Willem Heesen (1925-2007), and Bernard Heesen (1958) that Peter became inspired to explore the possibilities of blown glass. From 1987 on, he set out to learn as much as possible about glassblowing through workshops at The Oude Horn in Leerdam, Willem Heesen’s studio, and being an assistant to Bernard Heesen. In 1989, Peter attended a workshop at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, which was led by Lino Tagliapietra. It was during the workshop that Lino executed two of Peter’s designs which were purchased by the Kunst Museum the Hague. That same year, he went to work with Neil Wilkin in England. The two became close friends and worked together for many years, producing a significant amount of blown pieces.
Peter learned a great deal from blown glass, and while glassblowing still held an important place in his heart, in 2001 Peter embarked on an extremely influential voyage to Antarctica. He was completely taken with the landscapes and nature he found there, especially the icebergs. Inspired by what he experienced, Peter’s work and approach to glass continued to change. From this journey, Peter was inspired to translate his impressions of the majestic Antarctic landscape, creating the internationally acclaimed series of sculptures, Icebergs and Paraphernalia.
To Peter, the next logical step was to go from the cold transparent ice to the hot density of the desert’s rocks and mountains. In 2008, Peter visited Arizona and found he was greatly inspired by The Four Corners in the American Southwest. Drawing from his time reflecting in nature and the diverse, desert landscape, Peter was inspired to create The Four Corners series.
Today, Peter Bremers’ work is featured in many private and public collections such as: Kunstmuseum Den Haag, NL; National Glasmuseum Leerdam, NL; Dutch Ministry of Justice, NL; Museo de Arte en Vidrio MAVA, Madrid, Spain; Grassi Museum Leipzig, Germany; National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Glass and Light Hotel & Gallery, Norfolk, VA, USA; Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg, FL, USA.
Click here for a video of Bremer's work at Shaw Gallery.
Click here for an artist's resume.
Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Shaw Gallery, Naples, Florida, for providing the Artist of the Month.
The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to further the development and appreciation of art made from glass.
The Alliance informs collectors, critics and curators by encouraging and supporting museum exhibitions, university glass departments and specialized teaching programs, regional collector groups, visits to private collections, and public seminars.
