Elise B. R. Petersen works as an assistant to the general manager and started with us in September 2024. She has previously worked at Kode, Bergen Kunsthall, and the Astrup Fearnley Museum, focusing on art communication, workshops, exhibition production, events, and administration. Petersen holds a master’s degree in art history (2015) from the University of Bergen, with an emphasis on contemporary art and new media art.

From February – April Celia Besnard, will be an intern in S12. Besnard is studying glassblowing at LP Dominique Labroise in France. In 2022 she received a gold medal in «Un des Meilleurs Apprentis de France », a competition choosing the best apprentices in France 2022, as well as an Apprentice award from SMLH, Mosellane 2022. In S12 she will be gaining insights into how a gallery and workshop for glass is run, and learning new techniques and methods for working with glass.

Galla Theodosis was our studio manager from October 2021 to May 2023.

Theodosis has a MA in Fine Arts – Glass from Haute École des Arts du Rhin (FR), 2015. Since then, she has been traveling in Italy, Canada, the USA, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, and Denmark to refine her knowledge and skills in the hotshop.

Her’ artistic work explores the combination of glass and other materials through sculptural pieces and installations, using a variety of techniques. Glass’ many qualities, both aesthetic and symbolic, are at the core of her practice. Theodosis  work is part of the collections of the Museo del Vetro in Venice (IT) and of STARworks in Star (NC, USA).

Katie Ukleja was an intern at S12 from October to December 2013.  She has a BA in Art Theory from the College of Fine Arts—University of New South Wales, Australia (2013).  In 2011 she was part of a group of students who visited the Istanbul and Venice Biennales where she participated in a unique course involving intensive on-site research.  She has worked at galleries in Australia, England and now Norway.  While working at S12 she was involved in all aspects of the gallery including planning and realising exhibitions and overseeing the gallery space.  Katie has an interest in contemporary Indigenous art which she intends to focus on during her Masters studies.

Herdis Torsvik (f 1965) is educated at Akershus University College, Faculty of Product Design 1999-2002 at Blaker. Herdis worked as a co-founder of S12 Galleri og verksted up until 2011 when she left to start her own ceramic workshop at the USF, Bergen.

Timothy Belliveau (Canada) joined our team in September 2020, and is our current interim workshop manager and assistant to the artists in residence. In his artistic work, Belliveau works primarily with glass, ceramics and 3D-printing. Through these he integrates sculptural materials, made by hand, with geometrical imprints and reproductions made at the computer.

He received his BA from Alberta College of  Art and Design in Calgary, Canada. He since has participated in establishing some truly renowned projects and institution like the  ‘Bee Kingdom’ in Calgary in 2005, and assisted in the first opening of ‘Berlin Glas e.V’ in 2012. His work with the Bee Kingdom collective group was exhibited at Cheongju Craft Biennale, The Pergamon Museum in Berlin, and at the Pictoplasma-festial in Monterrey, Mexico.

Timothy has also worked at the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artist Residency in Michigan, USA, and was a resident artist at Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum (EKWC) in the Netherlands. Throughout 2018 and 2019 he was the educational coordinator by the legendary studio UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, USA.

Patrícia Šichmanová grew up in Bratislava, Slovakia where she completed her MFA at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in 2017. Her master project won third prize in international competition Stanislav Libensky Award, Prague. During 6 years of exploring possibilities of glass, she studied also Metal at Høgskolen i Sørost Norge, Rauland, Norway and glass and ceramic design at Häme University of Applied Sciences, Hämeenlinna, Finland. Drawing her inspiration from nature, the Nordic landscape made a big impact on her and consequently on her works. In 2016 she started internship in S12 Galleri og Verksted, where she created her master project and currently works. Her works were exhibited in group exhibitions in Europe.

Maria Frantzsen is a coordinator for several projects and programs at S12.  She has been working with glass as a medium since 1996 and earned a 1st class BA (HONS) degree in 2002, followed by a Masters degree in 2004 from the Glass department at Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland.  She attended Canberra School of Art as an exchange student in 2001 and has attended summer classes at Northlands Creative Glass and the Pilchuck Glass School.  She has been active as a teacher of both art and glass on different levels and has a degree in art education from Bergen Academy of Art and Design.

Maria´s work develops within the sphere of personal and collective memory where she is particularly interested in how we store and present mementoes of lived life.  Her work is in the public collection of West Norway Museum of Decorative Art and Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum.

Terese Longva received her BFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2008. She studied at the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland, followed by three years at Kosta Glass School in Sweden. She also studied at Aalesund School of Art in Aalesund, Norway.  Longva has shown her work at various venues in the USA and Europe. She is works in a range of mediums, but video and performance has a central place in her work, in which she looks at different aspects of the human condition such as how we construct different Selves in reaction to varied expectations of society, and how we constantly struggle to learn our social roles while at the same time break out of them to know ourselves. As part of the collaborative partnership Longva+Carpenter, Longva also investigates topics such as personal longings, feminist ideology and political urgency.  

Alli Hoag was an artist in residence at S12 Gallery and Workshop and serving as the Workshop Manager from August 2013  through July 2014.  Her recent work involves installations exploring the blurred line between the real and imagined experience utilizing glass and mixed media.  After completing her MFA at Alfred University in 2012, she served the past year as Adjunct Professor at Alfred University teaching Sculpture and Glass.  She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and is currently working toward her 2014 solo exhibition at Urbanglass, in Brooklyn, NY in November 2014.

Damien François is an artist who joined the S12 team in March 2012.  He studied at The Danish Design School, Center for Glass and Ceramics on Bornholm, where he graduated in 2010 with a BA in Glass. His role is to take care of the workshop, assist visiting artists, give courses as well as create his own work. His work is primarily driven by responses of material experimentation. Based on the exploration and exploitation of the multitude of possibilities that glass offers, his work aims to approach issues of perplexity and uncertainty. He is interested in the unfamiliar side of the glass’s characteristics.  www.damienfrancois.com

Monica A. Amundsen was responsible for the workshop in S12 from August 2014 – August 2015.  She has in addition assisted our visiting artists and  participated in our educational work like the SundaySchool and UNG15.  Monica was an Artist in Residence in S12 during parts of June & July 2015.

Thomas Petersen  is a glassblower educated at Orrefors in Sweden. He was  responsible for the workshop from August 2015-April 2017. In addition he assisted our visiting artists and participated in  educational work such as the Sunday School and introduction courses in glassblowing.

Charlotte Lemaire joined the team in S12  in April 2017. She was responsible for the workshop and assistant for our Artists in Residence. Charlotte learned glassblowing in her home country France, and continued her studies at The Royal Danish Academy, School of Design, in Bornholm, where she graduated in 2013 with a BA in Glass. Charlotte has worked with glass in various Glass workshops; in France, the US and since 2014 in Norway.

Ata Turkoglu researched ways in which S12 can reach artists outside Europe and North America to recruit a more diverse group of artists for the Artist in Residence and Exhibition programs at S12. He also worked with current Artists in Residence to help us understand how to better facilitate artists in the future. Additionally, he communicated with the parents of children in our Sunday programs to help us better assess the successes and shortcomings of this government funded program.

Moonju Suh was volunteering as an assistant in S12 in the summer 2019. She is a MFA Glass student from Edinburgh College of Art.

Her background is in graphic Visual Design, with a particular focus on drawing characters. Most of her early works sought to give viewers a feeling of happiness and playfulness.

As of 2020, she is finishing in her MFA degree in Glass at Edinburgh College of Art. She is researching and experimenting in glass through blowing, casting, engraving, and coldworking techniques.  Moonju expresses both playfulness as well as other contrasting emotional states through her glass work, by using a kitschy aesthetic, which was inspired from Kidult toy culture, that often obscures the darker tones within.

Jessie Blackmer (US) was the workshop manager and assistant to the artists in residence from June 2018 until April 2020.  Jessie Blackmer is an artist who has been working in glass since 1999. She received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 2004 and her MFA from The Ohio State University in 2011. She has been a recipient of a Jon and Mary Shirley Scholarship, Artist in Residence at Wheaton Village, and Pilchuck Emerging Artist in Residence. She has also been a teaching assistant at Pilchuck Glass School, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Penland School of Crafts. Her work examines natural phenomena through an autobiographical lens while paying particular attention to disease states.

Emma Baker (UK) was our workshop manager and assistant to the artists in residence from march throughout september 2020. She received her BA from Sunderland University in 2014 and has since worked in glass studios throughout Europe. In 2019 she became one of two Associate Artists at North Lands Creative, a two-year programme supporting & developing the practice of glass artists. She has been awarded residencies at Berlin Glas, The Glass Factory, S12 Bergen and North Lands Creative. Her work is held in public & private collections and has been shown across the UK & Ireland. Most recently, she has received scholarship funding to the USA and has worked on international cross-cultural projects supported by British Council Scotland and Creative Europe. She has also been a teaching assistant at Corning Museum of Glass, Bild-Werk Frauenau and North Lands Creative. Specialising as a glassmaker, her love of the material and its processes combines with narrative and sentiment to embody her artistic practice.

Erik Meling joined S12 in August 2020 as our temporary administrative manager and press secretary. Erik will work with all kinds of administrative tasks, such as marketing and reporting, etc., in addition to assisting both the visiting artists in the workshop, and visitors to the gallery.

Erik has a master’s degree in art history, as well as a post graduate degree in stage direction and studies in Spanish. Until now, he has worked as a tourist guide, for many Scandinavian art- and cultural groups both in Spain and Portugal, but also in most other European countries.