Education and early years
Belgian glass artist Isabelle Scheltjens, born in 1981, developed an interest in art, colour and composition from an early age. She studied at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Sierkunsten en Ambachten (SISA) in Antwerp, where she built the technical foundation that would later influence her artistic practice.
Her sensitivity to colour, atmosphere and visual perception became central to the distinctive style for which her work is recognised today.
Developing a language in glass
A defining moment in the career of Isabelle Scheltjens was her encounter with glass. Inspired by the work of her husband, Dirk Neefs, she became fascinated by the transparency, depth and interaction with light that the material offered.
Through experimentation, she gradually developed her own approach to contemporary glass art, combining elements of photography, painting and mosaic into a highly recognisable technique.
Selected fragments of coloured glass are carefully arranged and fused in a kiln to create layered compositions. The individual pieces function almost like pixels: abstract when viewed up close, yet forming detailed photographic images when seen from a distance.
This distinctive glass mosaic technique gives her works their depth, luminosity and constantly changing appearance.
Between abstraction and realism
The glass artworks of Isabelle Scheltjens are characterised by a striking tension between abstraction and realism. Her portraits, often centred around female figures, explore themes such as femininity, introspection and identity.
From close range, the viewer sees individual fragments, colours and textures. Step further away, and these elements merge into a recognisable portrait.
This shift in perception is essential to her work. Depending on distance, perspective and light, the same artwork can appear entirely different. Glass is therefore not simply a material, but an active part of the visual experience.
International recognition
Over the past decade, Isabelle Scheltjens has developed an international profile as a Belgian contemporary artist. Her glass artworks have been presented in galleries, exhibitions and art fairs across Europe and internationally.
Collectors are particularly drawn to the combination of technical precision, optical illusion and emotion within her work. Her distinctive use of glass gives her a recognisable position within contemporary figurative art.
From glass to sculpture
In recent years, Isabelle Scheltjens has expanded her artistic practice with three-dimensional works in marble and bronze.
The recognisable faces from her glass art now take on physical volume. Rather than following conventional proportions, she stretches, distorts and abstracts facial features to create sculptural trompe-l’oeil effects.
These sculptures continue her fascination with perception, perspective and the human face, while introducing new interactions between material, light and space.
The expansion from glass into sculpture represents a natural evolution within the work of Isabelle Scheltjens. Whether working with glass, marble or bronze, she continues to explore how an image changes depending on how – and from where – we look at it.
