Member object 2023

A selection committee, consisting of Maartje Brattinga (curator of glass at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam), Christine Vanoppen (visual artist) and Selena Yang (Oooit Art, Utrecht), unanimously chose Evert Nijland’s design as the 2023 member object for the Friends of Modern Glass. The committee deliberately chose a designer from an adjacent field, namely jewelry, to show members of the society the versatility and possibilities of glass as a material. With Evert Nijland, glass is never the starting point, but it often plays an integral role in his creations. He is always looking for interesting combinations and applications of materials that contribute something of substance to his work.

The committee was pleasantly surprised by Evert Nijland’s work and admires the very rich spiritual world he creates. He draws his inspiration from classical art, and this influence is evident in his designs. The committee also appreciates the long and equal cooperation between Evert Nijland and Edwin Dieperink. The two have been working together since the mid-1990s, and since 2002 glass has become increasingly prominent in Evert Nijland’s work.

Evert Nijland
Evert Nijland’s design for the member object was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s world-famous triptych “Garden of Delights,” which dates to 1503 and is in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The center panel in particular, titled “Mankind Before the Flood,” has fascinated him for years because of the complexity, originality and visual power of the work, and the exciting balance between figuration and abstraction.

A distinctive property of glass is its transparency, and many visual elements in the Garden of Delights appear to him as if they were made of glass: spheres and fruit shapes in which people and animals crawl in and out, and bizarre constructions that seem to have the same luster and translucency as glass. Evert Nijland’s design was specifically inspired by painted fruit shapes and spheres pierced by a tree trunk or branch. He translated this idea into a combination of glass and bronze, with the object “Hieronymus” expressing the merging of opposites such as heavy and light, solid and hollow, open and closed.

A contemporary jewelry maker, Evert Nijland combines several disciplines of applied art, including glass, metal, textiles, wood and ceramics. To realize his sculptures, he works closely with specialized craftsmen and companies. The member object for the Friends of Modern Glass was created in collaboration with Steffan van Slooten of Precious Metal Foundry de Viking and glass instrument maker Edwin Dieperink.

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