Located in the exclusive area of Puerto Banus, Blizz Art Gallery welcomes visitors to step in and marvel at the permanent exhibition of Scheltjen’s dotted glass artwork.
If you’re in the market for a truly unique and breathtaking piece of art, visit the new exclusive Blizz Art Gallery at Calle Ribera in Puerto Banus.
The eyes are the window to the soul, and this is the very feeling that artist Isabelle Scheltjen strives to invoke in the viewer with her creations.
Meet the Artist and Owner: Isabelle Scheltjen
Known as the “Queen of Dots”, Belgian artist Isabelle Scheltjen was consumed with visual aesthetics and art from a very young age. She studied and honed her skills at SISA, the Institute of Decorative Arts and Crafts of the City of Antwerp.
Inspired by her husband’s gorgeous glass design work, she decided to dedicate herself to the same material, which led her to work tirelessly to refine her method and truly master the theory of colour.
Isabelle has successfully developed a unique technique of glass fusing, whereby pieces of glass of different colours, sizes and textures are fused together at approximately 800°C. Using glass from the renowned supplier of Bullseye glass, the pieces of stained glass are like pieces of glass in the same colour, size and texture.
The coloured glass pieces are like the paint dots used by pointillists: they form an abstract image up close, but a dramatic and precise portrait from a distance. By fusing together hand-cut pieces of glass in an oven at 800 degrees Celsius, Isabelle manages to create abstract images up close, yet dramatic and precise portraits from a distance.
Isabelle achieves amazing optical effects with her technique: she captures the dance of light and colour in a way that transforms a photograph into a black and white portrait or, sometimes, a colourful one, the fascinating result of a process that relies on the perceptual capacity of the viewer’s eye and mind.
For Isabelle, painstaking preparation, precision, and attention to detail must go into every portrait. Take a look for yourself at some of Isabell’s impressive pieces, modelled after the faces of real models:
The Delicate Art of Glass Fusing
Glass is a contradictory material. Isabelle has put her own twist on the art form of classical pointillism. By using thousands of pieces of glass in specific patterns to form an image, she has indeed created a new way of portrait making.
Isabelle’s husband. Dirk Neefs also works with glass, which is what inspired her to perfect her technique by exploring glass as a versatile material. Regarding the art form of choice, pointillism employs small, distinct dots of pure colour on their canvases, placed in close proximity so that they would blur into new colours.
Isabelle’s technique is to apply the same method but to glass rather than paint. Having fully immersed herself in understanding the use of colour and shadow, she has grasped how to capture intricate detail, for example, of that in a face.
Her portraits are so fascinating because they require the viewer to engage upon the face, to fully engage themselves in the interaction. Curiously, Isabelle’s portraits even require the viewer’s participation, as the pieces’ appearance can look different depending on where the viewer is standing.
Isabelle’s Material of Choice: Bullseye Glass
A glass manufacturer founded in 1974, Bullseye Glass is an American company that supplies raw art glass for creators such as Isabelle Scheltjen.
Bullseye glass collaborates with a worldwide community of artists around the world to produce quality glass art. Handcrafted in Portland, Oregon, Bullseye Glass is the first glass manufacturer to make glass that is factory-tested for fusing compatibility, and is recognised for major advances in the crafts of kilnforming, kilncasting, flameworking, and coldworking methods used to create glass art.
With a global influence, Bullseye glass sets the standard for top quality in coloured glass art. The company’s research and education programmes continue to contribute to the reach of the art glass industry, with fine arts galleries increasingly popping up all over the world.
Opening hours: Mon – Sun: 11:00 – 15:00 | 17:00 – 23:00
Contact
- Address: Calle Ribera, Casa N, Local 18, planta baja
29660 Puerto Banús
Marbella
- Email: info@blizzartgallery.com
- Phone: +34 951 74 30 06