Artists residencies
Azou Bade
As part of its mission to support artistic creation in the field of glass arts, the Vitromusée Romont launched its artist residency programme in 2024.
On this occasion, we invited Senegalese artist Azou Bade for a week-long residency from 9 to 13 July 2024, with a selection of his works presented in the exhibition « Regards du Sénégal. Souwèr de la collection Afric.Art ».
The artist
Trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Dakar, he lives and works in Saint-Louis (Senegal) and has been creating souwèr for over 30 years.
The created work
During his residency, he created a reverse glass painting that has been added to the museum’s collection. Visitors had the opportunity to talk with him and follow the progress of his work throughout the week, which required great dexterity and meticulous skill.
From 9 to 13 July 2024
Oksana Kondratyeva
In 2025, we had the pleasure of welcoming Oksana Kondratyeva, London-based artist born in Ukraine. During her stay from 25 April to 1st May 2025, visitors were able to meet her in the museum’s workshop and discover her glassworking techniques.
The artist
After years living and working in Bonn and Frankfurt, Kondratyeva honed her architectural glass art skills at Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London. Her works, primarily made of glass, have been incorporated into historical and contemporary buildings across the UK as architectural art. Her experimental work on glass was selected for exhibition in the British Glass Biennale 2024. Her stained glass and paintings have been featured in prestigious publications, including Physics World magazine.
The created work
Her recent visit to CERN in Geneva further reinforced the importance of science for her stained glass window project in Romont: the experimental discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hydron Collider (LHC) led her to develop a stained glass window entitled Discovery as an element of ongoing dialogue between science and the arts. Kondratyeva’s work has been on display since her residency in the workshop and enjoyed considerable visibility during the inauguration of the Espace Michel Eltschinger.
From 25 April to 1st May 2025
Sadika Keskes
This year, we are delighted to welcome the Tunisian artist Sadika Keskes to the Espace Michel Eltschinger from 27 March to 5 April. During her residency at the Vitromusée Romont, she will create a blown glass stained-glass piece entitled Abstraction, measuring 50 × 100 cm, using an innovative technique that combines glass and metal while hot. Visitors will be able to discover the different stages of the process and engage with the artist about this technical and artistic innovation. Over the weekend of 28 and 29 March, the public will also be able to attend glassblowing demonstrations, during which she will create two vases using the same technique. This will be an opportunity to observe molten glass in action and the gestures of the artist.
Her technique
Her recent research into stained glass reflects a desire to renew this ancestral medium by revisiting its technical and formal principles. It is based on a technique of entirely blown stained glass, made possible by replacing traditional lead with a heat-resistant metal such as steel or stainless steel. These materials offer not only durability comparable to lead, but also greater structural strength and new formal possibilities.
Whereas traditional stained glass involves cutting pieces of coloured glass which are then assembled using lead cames and soldering, her approach reverses this process. The composition is first conceived within a heat-resistant metal plate, in which openings and compartments are created to structure the design. These cavities then become receptacles for the molten glass, introduced through the technique of blowing. The glass is no longer a flat, cut surface, but a living material that takes shape directly within the metal structure. It can expand into slightly curved volumes or remain flatter, depending on aesthetic requirements and the desired interplay with light.
This approach allows the artist to explore a more organic relationship between glass, light and colour. Working with hot glass enables chromatic blends, nuances and luminous vibrations that are impossible to achieve with traditional methods. Each blown element thus becomes a unique form, traversed by light and animated by the internal movement of the material.
The artist
Born in Sfax, Tunisia, Sadika Keskes has art in her DNA. She grew up in a family where everyone had, in one way or another, a connection to the crafts. After studying at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis and the Glass School in Murano, she opened her own blown glass workshop in 1984. Alongside her own production, she has conducted both theoretical and practical research, leading her to explore the origins of glass and to reproduce, in her workshop, the techniques used in Punic glassmaking.
Now based by the seaside in Gammarth, near Carthage, she runs a glass design and production workshop composed of several teams of glassblowers, along with a large exhibition and sales space, a Centre for the Rehabilitation of Crafts and a cultural venue. Her glass creations, sometimes combined with iron, silver, brass or wood, are exported worldwide, and some are exhibited in various museums. Her work reflects the evolution of design and innovation emerging in the interior decoration of private residences, restaurants, hotels, and more.
Alongside her craft practice, the artist takes part in numerous international contemporary art exhibitions, creating pâte de verre bas-reliefs, sculptures, jewellery, and a wide range of other precious objects.
From 27 March to 5 April
Vitrorencontre
Le Vitromusée offre une occasion unique de rencontres interculturelles et intergénérationnelles aux familles portugaises et suisses ainsi qu’aux personnes de tous âges pour découvrir le monde fascinant des arts du verre.
Encadré·e·s par une médiatrice culturelle plurilingue, vous explorez de manière créative et ludique ce matériau fragile et transparent qu’est le verre et créez votre propre oeuvre d’art. La Vitrorencontre se poursuit par une visite guidée du musée qui vous présente un aperçu de cet important patrimoine culturel suisse et se termine dans une ambiance conviviale autour d’un café et d’une pâtisserie.
Prix :
Adultes : CHF 12.-
Enfants : CHF 5.-
Familles (2 adultes et 2 enfants jusqu’à 16 ans) : CHF 25.-