The manager at the hotel explained a different, less dangerous route to the train station.
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- Zwiesel Aparthotel
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- My hotel room
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- Saguaro painted in the pedestrian underpass to the train station
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- Zwiesel train station
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- Phone booth at the Zwiesel train station
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- Another hotel in Zwiesel
Zwiesel is a 15-minute train ride from Frauenau, my real destination. It turns out that hotels have visitor cards, which means I can ride the train and buses in the area for free. It also includes admission to some museums, etc. — except I always forget about the card for them.
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- Frauenau church, across the street from the glass museum
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- Mirror sculptures in park near the Frauenau train station
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- Fused glass house number
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- Stained glass window in a private house
Before I go to the museum, I wander around Frauenau a little, visiting a couple of stores that sell glass. This is a religious holiday in Bavaria, so many of the stores are closed. The bus I was expecting also didn’t run.
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- Restaurant in Frauenau
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- Frauenau city hall
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- Hotel with restaurant in Frauenau
My first stop is the Glass Museum in Frauenau. It’s a good-sized (relative to the other three museums I’ve seen on this trip) museum, glass walls, glass staircase. It’s on two floors, includes a café, is located in a park with a pond and many glass sculptures. It’s next to the Eisch facility (gallery / sales shop / glass-blowing facility).
Glasmuseum Frauenau
Ron Fischer, “Arche II”, in the Glass Garden
Mosaic in the floor near the entrance of the museum
The museum offers a well-done history of glass, with apparently a lot of original pieces. It also offers an overview of glass in the area, which is on the border to what is now the Czech Republic. This area has had glass since the 1600s — the Poschinger Glass facility is still in business. The glass place I visited on my first trip to Germany in 1969 has disappeared, but it must have been in Zwiesel, because of its name (Arber –and many businesses have Arber in their names).
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- Erwin Eisch, “Telefon”
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- “Vase”, by A Philabaum + R Carlson (I was looking for this piece, by Tucson artist Tom Philabaum)
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- Luigi Bona and kiln-formed Coca Cola bottle
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- Erwin Eisch, “Self-portrait in Glass”
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- Laszlo Lukacsi, “Fan”
I wander through the Glass Garden, which leads in part to the Eisch sales area.
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- Garden gnome in glass, one of several in a variety of colors
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- Thierry Boissel, “Antiphon” (with the church in the distance)
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- Carmelo Lopez (small versions of his work were for sale in the Eisch Gallery).
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- Bright cylinders of glass made up this piece. I didn’t get the artist’s name.
The sales part of Eisch is open, so I wander through that, as well. Eisch was begun in the mid-1940s, after the war. Best known is the son, Erwin Eisch, now in his 90s. He, along with Harvey Littleton, was a mover and shaker in the modern studio art glass movement. He was also one of the founders of the glass museum.
On Thursday I visit von Poschinger, complete with a tour.
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- Von Poschinger, one of the last hand-made glass companies in Germany
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- Von Poschinger celebrates its 450th year
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- In the von Poschinger sculpture garden
This is apparently the largest manufacturer in the area, as well as the oldest. It has a retail outlet, but apparently most of its production is fulfilling orders by other companies. The tour was interesting. One of the other participants was a woman whose father was American. The other part of the group is a couple with their daughter. It turns out the woman is a well-known Bavarian moderator/actress — I didn’t know who she was, but the other woman recognized her.
Back in Zwiesel I set out to explore and find the exhibit at the middle school. This is glass, ceramics, paintings, wood, metal… on three floors. With lots of windows, it’s great for glass.
Glass sculpture in show in Zwiesel
Copper in glass — sculptural piece in a show in Zwiesel.
Included in the exhibit are some pieces that were winners in a competition at the glass school. Most of the pieces are by women and represent a variety of techniques.
I was actually looking for the huge church. Finding the middle school was luck. Tomorrow I’ll visit the exhibit by the church.
diane's fused glass 