To Master Artist Gideon Fridman, glass is moving and alive. “My ability to turn raw and flat glass into a living sculpture that communicates with the observer and creates a dialogue with him, gives me great satisfaction.” The brainchild of Gideon Fridman, the Glass Art Museum in Arad, Israel, was established  in 2003.

Over the past 16 years, with only an ‘on-off’ switch, no computerized panel, utilizing kilns that he hand built, and using a powder mold material that he pioneered, Glass Sculptor Gideon Fridman has developed a unique process of creating glass sculptures. He does not simply put the glass on or in a mold. Contrary to usual glass art practice, Gideon forms and shapes the glass while it is hot in the kiln, opening and adjusting and moving the glass using his fruitful imagination.

Gideon’s glassworks are incredible: if you look at a sculpture from one point and then move in the opposite direction with your eyes riveted on the sculpture, there is an amazing visual effect – the sculpture turns together with the spectator. This effect may be explained by the fact that the glass is molded in such a way that in places it is hollow, elsewhere it is shaded by paints, and the external side of the glass is always smooth, but inside it is uneven and with relief. Yet the visual impact is powerful and exciting, and defies explanation!

Gideon’s works express incredible skill and creativity. Living in Arad, a city bordering the Negev desert near the Dead Sea, is an inspiration for his work; the heat, dryness and dust, smoldering sun, sand storms, and Bedouins are the heart and soul of his work. One of Gideon’s earlier works, in stone, set at the entrance to Arad, has become the city symbol. Gideon’s sculptures have been exhibited in Vancouver, B.C., in Koln, and in Dinslaken, Germany.

Plan to visit Israel?! Be sure to put this one of a kind Glass Museum on your itinerary.

 Stay Tuned!

Friday, December 2 – See our blog post of our glass art, on exhibit at the Glass Art Museum.