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Myths inspire the realization of the possibility of your perfection, the fullness of your strength, and the bringing of solar light into your world. Myths grab you somewhere down inside. Myths are infinite in their revelation.

Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Vallien uses simple familiar objects and forms to invoke human and mythic journeys through memory and history. His work employs imagery that is at once private and public and over time he has developed a repository of objects, which serve as his vocabulary. Each sculpture is a story told by the artist. There are as many iterations of the story as there are pieces. As we become more familiar with Vallien’s symbolic language, our experience intensifies and the objects, like the stories, become deeper and clearer. His cast glass boats, heads, houses, maps, and pendulums, become universal symbols of Vallien’s own search for an innately powerful, spiritual light. “The simpler the form, the greater will be the emphasis on light – transforming the sculpture into cosmic matter – from space or the depths of the earth.”

The art critic Robert Morgan writes: “Viewing Vallien’s work is like a form of meditation in that we allow ourselves to concentrate on the form and to experience something intimate within ourselves. This has everything to do with the tactile dimension of life as a means to detour the anxieties wrought from speed and excess, so prevalent in the world today. I feel comfortable with Vallien’s work for this reason, because it does what significant art has always done throughout the history of civilization. It offers a place of solace for the human eye, heart, and brain, and it engages us with something beautiful. When we awaken from the experience, we realize that we have been on a journey that has restored our sense of hope and well-being. Only the best art can perform this function. Vallien’s art is there.”

Swedish artist Bertil Vallien has occupied the world stage of glass art since the 1960s. He has been a respected teacher, having served for seventeen years as the Head of Glass Design at the College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden, his own alma mater. He has also taught at the University of Hawaii and in many programs throughout the continental United States. Vallien has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2001 Visionary! Award, the Swedish Prince Eugene Medal for “Outstanding Achievement in Arts.” In 1981 he was named “the most influential designer in his field,” by the Japan Interior Design magazine. His works are held in the collections of preeminent museums around the world.

Heller Gallery has represented Mr. Vallien in the United States for thirty years.

Heller Gallery, October 2007