AACG News
In Memoriam: Ulrica Hydman Vallien
Prominent Swedish artist and designer Ulrica Hydman Vallien, whose dramatic painted glass designs of intertwined snakes and floral imagery, as well as expressive animal and human faces, became synonymous with the identity of the Kosta-Boda glass company for the past four decades, died suddenly just days before her 80th birthday, which would have been March 24.
The news broke via her husband Bertil Vallien's brief but poignant Facebook posting: "My beloved Ulrica’s warm heart stopped beating tonight. An incomprehensible loss. Bertil" Vallien told the Stockholm newspaper Barometer that Ulrica died suddenly of a massive heart attack, adding that they had just talked about a lecture when she fell in his arms and died immediately.
Born in 1938 in Stockholm, Sweden, Ulrica Hydman spent four years at Konstfack University of Art, Crafts and Design, the nation's premier art school. A painter and ceramic artist, she had been employed by Kosta Boda since 1972, but in recent years had gone to a freelance arrangement with the company, where her designs are among the most popular. Work adorned with her unique style of painting on glass can be found in homes throughout Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. Like her husband, she was a frequent traveler and began teaching at Pilchuck Glass School in 1981, returning regularly until she cut back on her travels about seven years ago. She also frequently appeared as a visiting teacher at Bildwerk Frauneau.
| Posted 18 Mar 25
