Sandbox in Amsterdam (May 23rd ~ 10th June)

Official demonstrator for the 32nd annual Glass Art Society Conference on a barge in front of Felix Meritis, Amsterdam ,The Netherlands,in 2002 June.

At the 32nd Glass Art Society* conference held in Amsterdam (May 30th ~June 2nd, 2002) Sandbox was invited as one of the official demonstrators to carry out a sand casting demonstration. Given the opportunity to be in Amsterdam, we also organized a nine days exhibition (May 29th ~ June 6th) titled "Ka ta ma ri glass in Amsterdam."
The exhibition took place at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie situated in the south of Amsterdam. The one story square building called "n-building", used for the exhibition, had four square rooms joined in the middle. Two were used by Sandbox and the other two by students of the glass department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie for their exhibition, "Clear Thinking "new glass from the Rietveld Academie. When we started setting up the exhibition, there were pieces, which had not arrived from Japan and pieces, which were not finished. It was also difficult to decide how to present and light our works in the large space.
There were moments when we though we would not be ready for the opening, but the opening party on May 29th opened with great success.
After our sand casting demonstration on June 1st for the Glass Art Society, many people came to see the exhibition wanting to see the finished pieces they saw us demonstrate. Witnesses of our teamwork, they enjoyed individual works as well as the whole presentation as a group. .
Many were surprised and impressed that we were working as a team for almost four years creating each other's pieces as well as organizing exhibitions.
They had the opinion that with a collection of strong personalities, it is usually impossible to continue working as a team for such a long time.
Many pieces were not for sale, but Individual collectors, as well as a private museum were happy to buy pieces that were on sale.
We received offers to have workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions in Portugal and Canada, suggestions to participate in a competition in England and a possible commission to make a piece as a group to commemorate Sandbox's existence.
We heard more than one voice praising the "Clear Thinking" and "Ka ta ma ri glass" combined, was one of the best exhibitions in all of the GAS exhibitions.
With many compliments, on June 6th we ended the exhibition with success and managed to ship the pieces back to Japan.

Sandbox would like to thank, Kenji Ito of Aya Glass Studio, Thomas Kleager, students and teachers of the glass department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Andre Klein of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie for realizing the exhibition in Amsterdam.

June 2002

Written by Mica Okuno
Translated and edited by Ryoko Sato

*Glass Art Society is an American based international glass organization for studio glass artists, glass manufacture and educational institutions. (www.glassart.org)