Kerstin Brätsch

Sigis Erben (Agate Psychics)

2012

Antique-style glass with luster, enamel, and stained black pigments, float glass, agates, and powder-coated steel

Not on view

In 2012 Brätsch began working with artisans skilled in preindustrial, archaic crafts and apprenticed herself to Swiss glassmaker Urs Rickenbach with whom she collaborated to create this installation. Consisting of stained-glass panels set into a modular armature, Agate Psychics incorporates ornamental agate stones left over from a window project by German painter Sigmar Polke for the Grossmünster cathedral in Zurich. The artist achieved the work’s vivid reds and yellows by adding metallic particles to molten glass, a method first discovered by medieval glassblowers experimenting in alchemy. Brätsch’s use of this process reflects her longstanding interest in mysticism, occult rituals, and arcane forms of knowledge.

Gallery label from

2023

Kids label from 2025

Focus on one color, shape, or material here. What do you notice?

Kerstin Brätsch once said, “Sometimes, to build an image, you need four hands, two belonging to an artisan and two to the artist.”

To make this work, she teamed up with Swiss glassmakers. Based on her sketches, they created colorful stained-glass shapes. Brätsch also worked with a designer to build the steel frame.

Medium Antique-style glass with luster, enamel, and stained black pigments, float glass, agates, and powder-coated steel
Dimensions Overall dimensions variable
Credit Gift of Mrs. Katharine Kuh (by exchange)
Object number 1783.2012
Department Painting & Sculpture

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Kerstin Brätsch

Kerstin Brätsch

German, born 1979 16 works online

Known for her colorful, large-scale compositions, Kerstin Brätsch uses oil paint and a range of other materials to explore the nature of painting in the digital age.

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