methods
- Héloïse Colrat
- Alicia Van Ham-Meert
This ArtScience project brings together archaeometrist Alicia Van Ham-Meert and glass artist-blower Héloïse Colrat around the production of glass in the Middle Ages. Building on Alicia’s FNRS research into the stained-glass windows of the former Stavelot monastery (BE), the two have developed a series of potash glass recipes based on the analysis of these medieval windows. Héloïse then tests the viscosity and plasticity of these compositions through torch-blown glasswork.
In a second stage, during a workshop with the glass department at HEAR Strasbourg, Héloïse invited students to work on the form of the drinking horn—one of the earliest “trick glasses”—using the vitrifiable blend she and Alicia had formulated in the lab. With the guidance of Alain Guillot, an expert in ancient glass and a master blower invited for the occasion, the students pursued their own formal experiments with trick glasses.
Agenda
Past
Created by
Héloïse Colrat
Born in Lyon in 1992, Héloïse Colrat is a glass artist and blower. After joining the Glass Department at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg in 2013, she graduated in 2017. In 2023, she also obtained a CAP diploma in scientific glassblowing in Paris. Now based in Brussels, she continues to develop her artistic practice while also running the scientific glassblowing workshop at the University of Liège. At the crossroads of glass archaeology and contemporary art, her work reinterprets historical objects by reclaiming and transforming techniques drawn from scientific glassblowing.
Alicia Van Ham-Meert
Naturally curious from an early age and drawn to both the hard sciences (particularly chemistry) and the humanities (especially history) Alicia Van Ham-Meert graduated as a civil engineer in chemistry and materials science in 2014, with a dissertation on opaque Roman glass. She pursued her dual interest in material science and archaeology with an MSc in Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford, followed by a PhD at KU Leuven and VUB. During her doctoral research, she began studying the stained glass of Stavelot, intrigued by its unique composition: Where does this recipe come from? What are its raw materials? How workable is this type of glass? Through the Methods project, she explores these questions with the essential input of artisans and artists who possess a deep understanding of the material.
Credits
Artist: Héloïse Colrat
Scientific research: Alicia Van Ham-Meert
Production: Ohme
In partnership with the 4MAT research unit, ULB (Brussels), the Centre de recherches en Archéologie et Patrimoine, ULB (Brussels) and the Haute école des arts du Rhin (Strasbourg)
