Stine Bidstrup (Danish, b. 1982) is a glass artist and art historian whose practice delves into the ideology of optical phenomena and theories of both chaos and utopia. Working across studios in Denmark and Sweden, Bidstrup’s sculptures are made from mouth-blown colored glass fitted to plaster molds while in a molten state. They emerge from their molds as craggy architectural models and jagged artificial landscapes. Utilizing technology in conjunction with traditional techniques, Bidstrup often produces digital prints on the interiors of her sculptures. She applies scrawled lines, intricate networks, and map-like web patterns in this manner, allowing drawn forms to show through beneath layers of glass.
Bidstrup’s interest in the early twentieth-century utopian teachings of Paul Scheerbart and the architect Bruno Taut’s visionary proposals serves as a foundation for her forms as well as the thrust of her philosophical inquiry. The materiality and vibrant hues of her glass sculptures recall many of Taut’s drawings while materializing the fantastical literary descriptions of floating crystal cities detailed in Scheerbart’s 1914 manifesto Glasarchitektur. These historic meditations on urban planning occurred at the onset of World War I and, as such, were never realized—a fact that provides Bidstrup with ample room to reinterpret their ideas in her series “Architectural Glass Fantasies,” produced over a century later.
Bidstrup has taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art’s School of Design on Bornholm since 2009, and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2015. Together with fellow Copenhagen-based glass artists, she founded the collaborative studio Luftkraft Glass Studio in 2007, and has exhibited nationally and worldwide for the past 15 years. In 2018, Bidstrup joined the exhibition council at the Glass Museum Ebeltoft, and in 2021, she was selected as the curator of the 8th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial.
Contemporary works by five of today’s most distinguished Scandinavian glass artists are beautifully arrayed at HB381 for the Manhattan gallery’s annual Summer Group Show. Spotlighting Stine Bidstrup, Lene Bødker, Frida Fjellman, Hanna Hansdotter, and Maria Koshenkova through August 16, the exhibition is brimming with dazzling confections that represent an array of techniques including casting, mouth-blowing, sand-blasting, and mirroring. Each of the five women produce works of differing forms and functions, with some favoring hard-edge crystalline shapes and others going a more Baroque, organic route—but they are all united by their desire to push the bounds of what is possible through the famously finicky medium.
The exhibition GLAS!!! Danish Experimental Glass Art presents 12 of Denmark’s leading experimental glass artists. The exhibition’s distinguished lineup conveys both the current diversity and the trends that point forward in both figurative and abstract glass art. The participants have been chosen to show the diversity that has emerged in recent years, with glass artists challenging the traditional function of glass with experiments in both material, technique, expression and narrative. The artists bring glass into a visual artistic context by creating sculptures and installations from the “unstable” material.
STINE BIDSTRUP
b. 1982, Denmark
EDUCATION
2019
BA in Art History, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2006
Post-Baccalaureate (Honors) in Glass, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2004
BA in Glass, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020
Architectural Glass Fantasies, Gallery FUMI, London, UK
Focus: Stine Bidstrup, Heller Gallery, New York, NY
2018
Architectural Glass Fantasies: Utopia Materialized, Heller Gallery, New York, NY
2015
To Present What Has Already Past, 7th Floor Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
2013
Knotted Narratives, X-rummet, The House in Asnæs, Denmark
2012
Award Recipient of 2012, Hempel Glass Museum, Denmark
Rupert’s Chaos, Box Gallery, Lynfabrikken, Aarhus, Denmark
2011–2012
Studies in Search of Order and Chaos, Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Denmark
2010
New Work, Galleri Jytte Møller, Fredericia, Denmark
2009
When the Earth Reflects,The HOUSE in Asnæs, Denmark
2008
Sense of Reflection, Agallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
We Map Ourselves Inside of It, Tesch & Hallberg, Copenhagen, Denmark
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Generation Why, Rian Design Museum, Falkenberg, Sweden
2024
Generation Why, Rundetaarn, Copenhagen, Denmark
Glas!!! Danish Experimental Glass Art, Kunstetagerne Hobro, Hobro, Denmark
Indeterminate Objects, Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, WI
Summer Group Show, HB381, New York, NY
2023
Generation Why, Risør Kunstpark, Risør, Norway
Growth + Form: Gallery FUMI at 15, Gallery FUMI, London, UK
Studio Glass from Denmark, European Museum of Modern Glass, Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Germany
2022
Autonomous Zones, BWA Wrocław Galleries of Contemporary Art, Wrocław, Poland
Autonomous Zones, Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA
Detox—Clean It Up!, Östergötlands Museum, Linköking, Sweden
Handmade, Gallery FUMI, London, UK
Homo Faber, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore Island, Venice, Italy
Matter at Hand, Hostler Burrows, Los Angeles, CA
New Glass Now, Toyama Glass Art Museum, Toyama, Japan
Structures from a Molten World, The Glass Factory, Boda Glasbruk, Sweden
The Future Is Present, Designmuseum Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021
A Vase Is a Vase Is a Vase, Hempel Glass Museum, Nykøbing Sjælland, Denmark
Homo Faber, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore Island,Venice, Italy
Matter at Hand, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY
Melting Point, Heller Gallery, New York, NY & Ferrin Contemporary, North Adams, MA
Mindcraft Project,Virtual platform, Copenhagen, Denmark
New Glass Now,The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Passage at the Byre, Bullseye Projects, Latheronwheel, Scotland
The Biennale for Craft and Design, Museum Koldinghus, Kolding, Denmark
The Eighth Tallinn Applied Art Triennial, Kai Art Centre, Tallinn, Estonia (Curator)
Glass Art: Art in Glass, Galleri Montan, Copenhagen, Denmark
2020
Detox—Clean It Up!, Rejmyre Art Lab Residency Exhibition, Rejmyre, Sweden
Gallery FUMI for Sotheby’s Preferred, Sotheby’s Preferred Members Room, London, UK
It’s Good to Be Home, Gallery FUMI, London, UK
Opening Exhibition, Holmegaard Glass Factory, Næstved, Denmark
The Palace,The Glass Factory, Boda, Sweden
The Spring Exhibition, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019
New Glass Now, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Now and Then: Moments in Glass History,Toledo Museum of Art,Toledo, OH
13th International Glass Symposium Novy Bor, Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague, Czech Republic
47th International Glass Invitational Award Exhibition, Habatat Galleries, Royal Oak, MI
2018
AIR in S12: A Retrospective, S12 Gallery and Studio, Bergen, Norway
New Scandinavian Glass, Vessel Gallery, London, UK
Scandinavian Glass: Starting All Over, Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Denmark
Show Up, RØM Exhibition Space, Copenhagen, Denmark
Pop-up Exhibition at the National Workshops for Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017
Glass Weekend with Heller Gallery,Wheaton Arts Center, Millville, NJ
Mapping Denmark II: Luftkraft, Grønbechs Gård, Denmark
Scandinavian Glass: Starting All Over,The Glass Factory, Boda, Sweden & The Finnish Glass Museum, Riihimaki, Finland
Summertime ’17, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen, Denmark
2016
Europa Grenze(n)loos Glas, Glasrijk Tubbergen, The Netherlands
Funn (Discovery), S12 Gallery, Bergen, Norway
Great Danes: Danish Glass from Modern Factory Design to Contemporary Art, Glazenhuis Flemish Center for Contemporary Glass Art, Lommel, Belgium
Mapping Denmark II: Luftkraft, Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Denmark
2015
Danish Glass, Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Denmark
European Glass Experience, Museo del Vetro, Murano, Venice, Italy
The Process: The International Glass Prize, Glass Museum Glazenhuis, Lommel, Belgium
The Soul and the Pawnshop, Sediment Gallery, Richmond, VA
Pop-up exhibition, Studio 0601-0603, Copenhagen, Denmark
2014
Aurora: Nordic Contemporary Glass, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Danish Stars, Konsthantverkarna, Stockholm, Sweden
European Glass Experience,The Finnish Glass Museum, Riihimäki, Finland
Navigating the North, Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen, Denmark
Pilchuck on Display,The Westin, Seattle, WA
Via the Water, Palæfløjen, Roskilde, Denmark
Vitrum Balticum: Optical Outlook, M.K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas, Lithuania
Tartu Art House, Tartu, Estonia
2013
Composites: Three Views on Glass, S12 Gallery, Bergen, Norway
Creative Glass Center of America Alumni Biennial,Wheaton Arts Center, Millville, NJ
Knotted Narratives, Gallery Art Positive, Bajaj Capital Art House, New Delhi, India
Nordic Contemporary Glass,The Glass Factory, Boda, Sweden
Substance, Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen, Denmark
The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa, Design Center Ishikawa & Notojima Glass Art Museum, Ishikawa, Japan
Wheaton Glass: The Art of The Fellowship, Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ
2012
Dialogue, Designer Zoo, Copenhagen, Denmark
European Glass Context,The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Mesh Up, Gallery Klejn, Bornholm, Denmark
New Additions, Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Denmark
Substance, Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen, Denmark
Young and Loving: Retrospective, S12 Gallery and Gallery Format, Bergen, Norway
The House in Asnæs, Asnæs, Denmark
2011
Substance, Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Biennale of Art and Design, Koldinghus, Kolding, Denmark
The Art Association of August 14th, Designmuseum Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Nääs Castle, Gothenburg, Sweden
2010
Contemporary Glass Art, Rejmyre Glass Museum, Rejmyre, Sweden
In_box, Designer Zoo, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Danish Arts and Crafts Award of 1879, Danish Museum of Art & Design, Denmark
The International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa, Design Center Ishikawa & Notojima Glass Art Museum, Ishikawa, Japan
2009
Glass Guerrillas/Post-Glass Artist, Corning, NY
Sculpture Biennale Kijkduin, Kijkduin, The Netherlands
The Spring Exhibition, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
Young and Loving, S12 Gallery, Bergen, Norway
2008
Copenhagen Furniture Festival, GUBI Showroom, Copenhagen, Denmark
Maison et Objet with Danish Crafts, Paris, France
Summer Exhibition, Designer Zoo, Copenhagen, Denmark
ICFF with Danish Crafts, New York, NY
KiC Special Exhibition, Aarhus, Denmark
2007
Biennale of Art and Design, Trapholt and Koldinghus, Kolding, Denmark
CGCA Fellowship Recipients Exhibition, Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
Emerging Artists in Residence, Friesen Gallery, Seattle, WA
GLASSS 2007, Holstebro Museum of Art & Danish Museum of Art & Design, Denmark
The Artists’ Fall Exhibition, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen,
Denmark
2006
Disappearances, MFA Row, The Peerless Lofts Gallery, Providence, RI
Double Visions, Hillel Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI
Phenomena, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
RISD at UMASS, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
2005
Free Form,The Round Tower, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sight/Site,The Space at Westminster, Providence, RI
Talente, Münich, Germany
2004
Biennale of Art and Design, Kunsten Museum of Modern Art and Trapholt, Denmark
Degree Show, Bornholm Museum of Art and Politikens Hus, Copenhagen, Denmark
Since Last… Danish Glass 2004, Glass Museum, Ebeltoft, Denmark
Gallery Brandt Contemporary, Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway
COLLECTIONS
Chazen Museum of Art, Madison,WI
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Designmuseum Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft, Denmark
Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Ernsting Stiftung, Coesfeld, Germany
Hempel Glass Museum, Nykøbing Sjælland, Denmark
Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
The Art Association of August 14th, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Art Association of the Swedish Handelsbank, Stockholm, Sweden
The Finnish Glass Museum, Riihimaki, Finland
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
GRANTS & AWARDS
Augustinus Foundation
Beckett Foundation
Culture Point North, Kulturkontakt Nord, Finland
Den Hielmstierne-Rosencroneske Foundation
Det Reiersenske Foundation
Direktør Ib Henriksen Foundation
Esther and Jep Finks Memorial Foundation for Architecture and Applied Arts
Frimodt-Heineke Foundation
Glass Trader Johan Franz Ronges Foundation
Grosserer L.F. Foghts Foundation
Hempel Glass Prize
Inga & Ejvind Kold Christensens Honorary Award
Jørgen Esmers Memorial Foundation
Klint Foundation
Knud and Ellen Dalhoff Larsens Foundation
Knud Højgaards Foundation
Kunsthåndværkerprisen af 1879
Montana Furniture
Nordea-Denmark Foundation
Pilchuck Glass School Student Scholarship
Præmieselskabets Fælleslegat
Rhode Island School of Design Fellowship
SOFA Special Merit Awards, US
Talente Prize for Design, Germany
The Danish Arts Foundation Honorarium
The Danish Arts Foundation Project Funding
The Danish Arts Foundation Three-Year Work Grant
The Danish Arts Foundation Travel Grant
The Danish Arts Foundation Work Grant
The Danish National Bank's Anniversary Foundation of 1968
The Danish Tennis Foundation
Thomas B. Thriges Foundation
WORKSHOPS
2012
Architectural Master Class with James Carpenter, European Glass Context, Denmark
2011
Classes with Harumi Yukutake and Pike Powers, Pilchuck Glass School
2009
"Place as Matter," Interdisciplinary Workshop held at Rejmyre Art Lab, Sweden
2004
Classes with Harumi Yukutake and Pike Powers, Pilchuck Glass School
RESIDENCIES
2021
Visiting Artist, Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA (postponed)
Artist in Residence, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY (postponed)
2020
Artist in Residence, The Royal Danish Academy of Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
"Detox—Clean It Up!," Rejmyre Art Lab Research Residency, Sweden
2019
Rejmyre Art Lab Summer Artist Residency, Rejmyre, Sweden
2014
Artist in Residence, Olustvere Glass Studio, Olustvere, Estonia
2013
Artist in Residence, S12 Gallery and Studio, Bergen, Norway
Artist in Residence, University of Sunderland, UK
Fellowship, Creative Glass Center of America,Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
2012
Artist in Residence, ChoChoma Studio, Chennai, India
2010
Rejmyre Art Lab Summer Artist Residency, Rejmyre, Sweden
2008
The National Workshops for Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
2007
Fellowship, Creative Glass Center of America, Wheaton Arts, Millville, NJ
2006
Emerging Artist in Residence, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
TEACHING AND LECTURES
2021
Part-time Faculty and Critic, 2021–2010, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
External Critic, Estonian Academy of Art, Tallinn, Estonia
2020
Part-time Faculty and Critic, 2020–2010, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Visiting Artist Lecture, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland
Instructor: Fluid Traditions (postponed), Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
2019
Instructor and Critic, 2019–2010, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Speaker at MANIFESTA 2019, The Danish Arts Foundation at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, Denmark
2017
Instructor and Critic, 2017–2010, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Instructor: Inspirations and Expirations, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
Demonstrator at The Glass Factory in connection with Scandinavian Glass Starting All Over, Boda, Sweden
2016
Instructor and Critic, 2016–2010, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Demonstrator at the 45th GAS Conference, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Teaching Assistant: UnObject, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
2015
Visiting Lecturer and Scholar, Art Department Glass Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Visiting Artist Lecture, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Visiting Artist, Art Department, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI
Visiting Artist, Anoka Ramsey College, Minneapolis, MN
Instructor: Two-Way Window Optics of Glass and the Eye, Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY
Visiting Critic, Pitzer College, Claremont, Los Angeles, CA
Visiting Artist, School of Art and Design, University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, IL
Instructor and Critic, 2015-2010, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
2014
Instructor and Critic, 2014-2010, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Workshop in connection with European Glass Experience Lassismi Glass, Riihimäki, Finland
Instructor, A Finely Crafted Idea: Strategies for Conceptual Development,
Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
Artist Talk, Konsthantverkarna, Stockholm, Sweden
2013
Visiting Artist, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Visiting Artist, Alfred University, School of Art and Design, Alfred, NY
Visiting Artist, The Royal College of Art, London, UK
Lecture, Bergen Academy of Art and Design, Bergen, Norway
2012
Full-time Faculty, 2011-12, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
2010
Instructor and Critic, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Instructor, 2008-2010, Engelsholm Højskole, Art and Music School, Bredsten, Denmark
2009
Full-time Faculty, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, School of Design, Bornholm, Denmark
Lecture, Bornholms Højskole, Art School, Bornholm, Denmark
2007
Visiting Artist, Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Art, Richmond, VA
2006
Teaching Assistant for Jeffrey Sarmiento, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
Lecture, Cornish College of Art, Seattle, WA
2005
Graduate Assistant, 2005–2006, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Lecture, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland
OTHER ACTIVITIES
2018–2021
Member of the Exhibition Council at Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft, Denmark
2018
Invited for the XIIIth International Glass Symposium, Novy Bor, Czech Republic
2017
Writer for Glass Art Society Journal, Seattle, WA
2014
Jury Member for the exhibition Danish Glass 15, Glass Museum Ebeltoft, Denmark
2008–2009
Selected for participation in Danish Crafts Collection 12, Denmark
2008
Writer for Kopenhagen.dk (Online Art Magazine), Copenhagen, Denmark
2007–present
Founder and member of the collective Luftkraft Glass Studio in Copenhagen, Denmark
