Karen Lise Krabbe

Karen Lise Krabbe (b. 1955) has positioned herself as one of Denmark’s most experimental glass artists. Central to her artistic practice today is her exploration of glass as a material  in combination with other ingredients.   The works are built up in layers, and consist of three-dimensional sculptures in organic shapes.

As an artist in residence in S12, Karen Lise Krabbe will further develop her new glass material “alginate glass”, a material that has textile properties and can be shaped cold, which is usually not possible to do with glass. By adding alginate, new possibilities arise – with this type of glass it is possible to knit and crochet.

Alginate is extracted, among other things, from brown algae, and has over 600 areas of use within biomedicine, food and industry. It is used as a thickener in sauces, ice cream and baked goods, and in molecular gastronomy. It is also used in bandages for chronic wounds, and as an aid for rebuilding bone tissue and heart muscles after injuries. And now in art as well.

Krabbe has previously worked with the color limitations that the materials sand, copper, olivine, silver etc. have given her. But now she is taking a big step into the world of colors and is experimenting with introducing colors into the “alginate glass”, colors that she once used 15 years ago when she was blowing glass.

Karen Lise Krabbe has a cand. mag. in Danish/drama/Spanish from the University of Aarhus. She has studied at Brabrand Glass School v/ Do Karlslund, Aarhus (1997), was an assistant for Dam og Karlslund, Århus/Handrup (1998-2001), and assistant and blower at Mette Bülow, Aarhus (2000-2003). She has been teaching glass at Aarhus Art Academy (2002–2005), has run her own workshop since 2004 and the Humboldt Gallery in Aarhus since 2013.

Krabbe has received several awards such as the Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass 2014 – the most important award in European glass art, and the Hempel Glas prize in 2020. She has exhibited in several countries, and is part of the collections of Veste Coburg, Designmuseum Danmark, Ernsting Stiftungen, Ebeltoft Glasmuseum and Hempels Glasmuseum.

Photos are showing tests and unfinished work.