Insiders’ Creative Couples: Ana Thiel And Paul Louis

By Judith Jenya

Ana Thiel is an internationally recognized glass artist who lives and works in Colonia Guadalupe.  She is one of a handful of notable sand casting glass sculptors in the world. Born and raised in México City, her Swedish-born father led an accordion orchestra and her Mexican mother was a member of the orchestra. Ana also played the accordion as a child.  After graduation Ana traveled in Europe, immersing herself in the arts.  She also studied Industrial Design in México City. At the end of her studies, she attended a glass lecture where she was introduced to glass blowing. Then Ana attended the World Craft Conference in Vienna to learn more about glass. She then attended a summer course at Pilchuck Glass School, cofounded by Dale Chihuly in Stanwood, Washington. There she was introduced by the Swedish artist Bertil Vallien to the art of sand casting, where she found her life’s work.

Ana has had art glass residencies in Japan, the United States, France, Spain, and Egypt. In 2008, Ana was awarded a residency at the Musée-Atelier du Verre at Sars-Poteries in the north of France.  During that stay she met her life partner, Paul Louis. He is an art photographer specializing in glass photography, among other art forms.  Today, they each say their life would not be the same without the other and that chance meeting.

In 1992, Ana moved to San Miguel de Allende where she turned a large property into her studio and home. The building that houses her glass furnace was once a chicken coop. There are months of preparation before the lighting of the furnace, the first step in making glass sculpture.

Paul, her partner, built the furnace and knows everything about how it functions. He is always present when the furnace is on. From the moment that the furnace is lit, it takes 3 to 4 days to attain the optimal temperature. It is a very intense process and requires great technical precision. The furnace must be at over 2000 degrees F and must remain at high temperatures during the entire three to four-week period when it is in use. Casting takes only a few weeks. What follows are months of finishing the sculptures. Ana sometimes casts glass into wood or metal. She also incorporates it into books and other objects. She sometimes changes the shape of the glass by twisting it. Her work can be architectural in sections or in a whole sculpture. All of this requires a steadiness and sense of calm that Ana possesses.

She attributes this largely to her study and practice with Víctor González, a Mexican-born Chinese martial arts master with whom she has studied since 2005. Her classes in Tai Chi and Tao Yin give her balance and a sense of well-being.  She prepares herself each day and then she prepares her work for months into the future. As an example, Ana visited Antarctica and she studied the way ice flows, which she incorporated into a project that was commissioned in San Miguel. This installation looks like ice floes in the ocean.

Ana will have an exhibition at the Art Museum in Queretaro, opening May 9th and continuing through July.  This September she will have a retrospective exhibit here at Bellas Artes featuring her 45 years as a glass artist.

Paul Louis was born in Brussels, Belgium. He is one of the few renowned glass art photographers in the world today. He sees photography primarily as his own vision: what his eyes see and how he frames and lights an image. It is his vision that makes his photographs, not his camera, although he is a superb technician with cameras. He searches for the poetry in what he sees.  Paul has had exhibits in Querétaro, at Galería Yam in the Instituto Allende and in other countries.

From April through November, Paul lives and works in Europe on commissioned work, and from November through April, Paul is in San Miguel with Ana. Ana travels in May to France where Paul has a home. They are marvelous collaborators. Paul helps Ana with technical matters, since he knows the glass process, as he has worked with many glass artists. Ana helps Paul with contacts and the work of organizing shows in México. She encourages him to show more of his own artistic photos. Together they have a beautiful, loving, creative life.

You can see more of Ana's work at www.anathiel.art

If you want to suggest a couple that both are involved in their own creative process, for a future column please send an email at judith58sma@gmail.com