Glass artists finalists in Loewe Foundation Prize 2026

Glass art is gaining recognition in the prestigious international Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2026, with four glass artists among the 30 finalists this year.

They include Australians Liam Fleming and Kirstie Rea. Liam’s anamorphic glass sculpture is called ‘Patterns of Pressure’. It was made using the traditional Venetian glassblowing technique incalmo, encompassing hot glass mould-blowing and warm glass fusing to create geometric structures that are subjected to high heat in the kiln.

Kirstie’s ‘Repose 2’ (main image) is made from a single piece of glass cut and shaped using traditional tools before undergoing four kiln firings. Coloured powders were added during the first firing, followed by a second firing to corrugate the surface, a third to compress the corrugations, and a fourth the gently bend the sheet into its folded form.

‘Faun’s Flesh (Arena Rosada)’ by Maria Koshenkova from Denmark is made from blown, sculpted glass combined with vintage found glass. Its creation involved multiple blowing sessions, extended kiln firings, cold-working and silvering.

Japan’s Ayano Yoshizumi has created ‘ICON #2507 Group’, comprising ‘ICON #2507 No. 2 and ‘ICON #2304 No. 3’. These pieces, described as “three-dimensional canvases”, feature glass, acrylic paint and glitter. They were hand-blown into static moulds and then shaped and hot torched to give the impression of movement in the glass.

The 30 finalists were selected from over 5,100 submissions from 133 countries and regions around the world.

The overall winner, who will receive a €50,000 award, will be announced on 12 May in Singapore. There will also be €5,000 for any works given a Special Mention.

An exhibition of all shortlisted works will open at the National Museum of Singapore on 13 May.

Find out more about all 30 finalists via this link.