About

The Glass Age series remains the pinnacle collaborative experience in the history of Horizon. 

In October of 2008 Regis Anchuelo contacted Ron regarding taking a break from France and winter with the idea of blowing glass on holiday as far away as possible. Through the glass art society directory, he found our glass blowing studio here, in Bali.  The 2 corresponded a few times including the introduction with Julien Espagne, a cold glass artist, who could help Ron and Regis overcome the language barrier and be part of a 3 ways collaboration. It was set! Low and behold pretty much at the last-minute Francis Auboiron, a fourth glass artist, had decided to join Regis on his pilgrimage, becoming the 4th element of a memorabole collaboration, the fifth was glass. Julien being a flint napper and an archeologist who makes flaked glass spear tips, naturally had a sort of pre-historic bent. Ron had taken a sculpture course that summer where he learned some of the techniques developed by William Morris who is known for making fantastic animal heads and the like, so the idea of spears and hunters prey started to set the theme as the work began with the first attempts at making spears.  Designs came flying out of Julien’s sketchbook and the three glass blowers were very much on a roll, literally as the designs were transcribed in glass powders and the motifs were rolled hot onto vessels.  One day it was spears, the next was vessels and solid objects, the next would be massive animal skulls and so on and so forth. This became an epic session of great success and a journey into the unprecedented.  After 6 weeks of sweat, laughter and tears at departure, Francis and Regis returned to France leaving behind a sort of odd silence in the hot shop.

Everyone wanted more. Shortly after Christmas Regis wrote again stating they were cold, not working and coming back to Bali in February.  So began session two of the Glass Age series where as the pinnacle of pinnacles “Java Man” was created amongst others like the Saber “Toothed Tiger”, “java Tiger Skull” and “Crocodile Skull”. Julian and Ron sought a gallery in Jakarta for exhibition and Ditier of Duta Gallery had agreed and suggested a book be made as the catalog.  Ari Wekku Sasski, a long time friend of Ron, had been photographing the work sessions and was pleased with the idea of turning their work into an art book. Soon Ron and Wekku began working out the book burning midnight oil. The rest is history as they say. 

Ron Seivertson 1961, Born in Sacramento, California USA is a hot glass artist who lives on the edge with an intense devotion to his craft. Creating masterpieces from the point of view that everything is possible and to do what seems can not be done.

“Hot glass artist Ron Seivertson creates light filled forms of blown and sculpted hot glass, extra ordinary in their expression and textural luminosity” Trisha Sertori, Jakarta Post

“He is clearly on the leading edge of glass blowing. His tonally rich and diverse blown art, conjures great thinking with simple pleasing forms. But Seivertson likes to break rules and molds. He investigates the far reaches of what blown glass should be and yet delivers stunningly beautiful, luminous and entertaining art.” Carolyn M. Scott, Executive Director Turtle Island Films, Santa Rosa, California USA

Before realizing his destiny awaited in hot glass art, Sievertson spent more then 20 years as a general contractor in carpentry and fine home building. At the age of 37 he reawakened the child artist from within (or visa-versa) with oil painting and sculpting. It was later, in 2003, that he found hot glass as his ultimate medium. From that moment of self-discovery, he took to glassblowing and sculpting quickly and naturally. He studied intensely, first in Seattle Washington, United States, and then in Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his most masterful lessons at The Pilchuck Glass School.

Being a glassblower is quite literally in his blood. The day before his first hot shop experience in 2003 he discovered through his father that his Great Great Grandfather, Breida Seivertson, was a master glassblower from Norway in the late 1800’s. Breida went on to create the largest sheet of hand blown glass in the world. This piece went on display at the World’s Fair in Chicago, in 19xx.  Breita’s son Herman Olouf, along with his Grandson Wayne Seivertson, carried on the family tradition while working at Fostoria and Imperial Glassworks. At the time, these were two of the most prestigious glass factories in the US, creating some of the finest factory tableware in the world and regularly supplying to Washington DC, the White House and many American dignitaries. Seivertson has since learned  that persons with his surname have been working with Hot Glass in Scandinavia and Northern Europe for more than 200 years.

His heritage, passion, and tenacity, combined with the alchemy and fluidity of the hot glass process help motivate Ron Seivertson to produce magical peieces of both form and function. Seivertson’s Horizon Glassworks Studio in Bali Indonesia is his arena to pursue the creation of unprecedented master pieces. In his first 5 years of practice Ron Seivertson became renowned in the glass community and has been steadily advancing and pioneering the craft ever since. He has a strong reputation and is widely regarded for producing stunning glass art works that are unique in their style, expressions and form.

Artist statement
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“Many artists have moments of powerful influence from the works of others. These works often compel them or move into a style or medium and to go in a certain direction with their work. For me it was the emotionally expressive works of Gustav Vigeland; while touring the great cities of Northern Europe, I visited the Vigeland museum in Oslo Norway. Vigeland’s ability to capture human expression and emotion simply consumed my attention like no other artist had before.

Hot Glass fulfills my desire for instant gratification and a sense of conquest. The results are immediate and it challenges me to explore possibilities regardless of the subject at hand. Hot Glass is both my competitor and my passionate lover in many variations that will consume my creative ambitions for the remainder of my life. Not all sculptors get the chance to work with glass, and for me it is humbling and a great privilege to carry on the tradition that has existed in my family for centuries.

Most of my early sculptural works are about human expression and experience, and how we relate to our surroundings. For the last 10 years I have been living and working on Bali, the island of the Gods. The islands sense of spirit and enchantment continues to directly influence my work. The conceptual ideas of my work- although very important- are often secondary to my desire of being challenged to create extraordinary works. I enjoy pushing boundaries to see what is possible in the moment with hot glass in my hands.

One of my greatest achievements to date is “The Glass Age Series” (2010). While working both collaboratively and individually with prehistoric themes, this series includes animals and artifacts specifically as found objects represented by bones, skulls, and ultimately a life sized skeleton.

“The Java Man” (Homo-Erectus):
The subject encouraged me to think of life and its struggles in the pre-historic days of humanity. Throughout all of human history these struggles continue in many different ways and forms.

This masterpiece challenged me to transform life, emotion, and the incredible drama of mere survival.  Evident in the piece from an archaeological perspetive is their handicraft, stone tool making skills, the predators they were forced to contend with, and even spiritual beliefs.  These were all captured in an expression with unprecedented Glass Art Objects.

The Empyreal Alchemy of Hot Glass in my hands keeps surprising me, and this personal process and experience of ‘live art in hand’ continues to encourage me to seek what has yet to be discovered.”