Glass artist duo BarroLevén, which comprises Ulrika Barr and Kristina Levén, was formed during their studies at the University College of Arts, Crafts & Design. From ideas, process and material experimentation in the workshop to completed pieces, they work closely together.
Ulrika Barr has a background as a glassblower. Trained in Orrefors, she has worked at Stockholms Glasbruk at Skansen and blown glass for, among others, Gunilla Kihlgren, Stockholm; Micke Johansson, Pukeberg; and JP Canlis, Seattle. During her studies at the University College of Arts, Crafts & Design, Ulrika worked with handicrafts and glass as a rehabilitative process and explored glass as a vessel for emotions. She has examined questions about how glass can serve as a catalyst to change and evoke a atmosphere. Glass takes bombastic, meaty forms and the body's presence is felt in abstract shapes, both as inner and outer elements.
Kristina Levén's artistry explores transparency, light and shadow. Glass has become her primary material and her studies revolve around how art and craftsmanship contribute to spaces in which to pause and find tranquility and contemplation. She is interested in the encounter, in the space between object and viewer. The work takes place based on different perspectives: as an occupational therapist with creative activities, as a leader of silent retreats, and based on the process of making her own work in which piece by piece, layer by layer, spaces of all sizes are built.
Through craftsmanship and material studies, both Ulrika and Kristina have explored existential questions. BarroLevén has now become something of a "third" artist, born from the space between the two. In this space, new thoughts and expressions are awakened, arising in the friction between two desires and two lived experiences. BarroLevén explores glass as a generator of atmosphere relative to space, both as a vessel for emotion and a creator of contemplative space. An exploration of the space between, of pauses, and of encounters between here and there.