Bārbala Gulbe is a young, attractive and cretively active Latvian glass artist. Being a member of an artists dynasty, her creative potential promises vitality and poetry in art of glass.
As a nonconformist in life and art, Bārbala Gulbe is receptive to the creative events in the world around her and incorporates their synthesis in her art. Currently she emphasizes the artistic nuances of multi layered coloured glass, finding emotional depth in the plasticity of glass.
Dainis Gudovskis,
Lecturer, Art Academy of Latvia
"Any work of art is a powerful weapon. It may injure or bring joy, be painful or inspire. The emotional experience is vital both for art creation and art appreciation. The message of the emotional experience is a homage to life forwarded by means of a person's capacity for feeling.
In creating a work of art, my main source of inspiration is nature. The prospect of visualizing natural phenomena such as rain, snow, mist and the like, or the emotional condition evoked by sensation and passion, memories of times gone by, etc., have the effect of making time stand still, thus seemingly extending the duration of a moment in the space of our existence in face of eternity.
I enjoy working with glass, a medium that, as a material, is sufficiently complex to present interesting problems. Beauty lies in simplicity, difficulties are there to be overcome. For me, that is the most precise formulation of the challenges posed by this medium.
To make my glasspieces, I use impressions of nature transforming them into images as independent 2D or 3D objects with their own story created by my mind. Major theme inspire my imagination for a long time has been- WATER.
When I realize my works I need to balance several ideas, creativity with practicality to capture major ones to stay as simple as possible. I believe that simplicity liberates and helps to capture major ideas so artwork comes to its realization in any material."
Bārbala Gulbe
Publications: Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon
Collections: Lviv Glass museum, Lviv, Ukraine;
Rona Glass museum, Lednicke Rovne, Slovakia;
Gusj Hrustalnij Glass museum, Gusj Hrustalnij, Russia;
Collcetions in Latvia: Mencendorf’s House, Museum un Decorativa Arts (DLMM);
