Glass awakened the artist in me

16-22 September 2024 Venice

Saradnja

Cooperation with New Murano Gallery, Venice, Island of Murano

ProjectThe first sculpture with a coin in Murano glass, entitled "WE ARE ALL ONE" by Jelena Borovčanin

DesignArtist Jelena Borovčanin

CreationMaestro Mario Furlan

VenueNew Murano Gallery Art Glass, Island of Murano, Venice

Project development/delivery process January–August 2024, Belgrade–Venice.

The sculpture WE ARE ALL ONE contains 16 elements.

01Development of the sketch and breakdown into crafting stages

02Creation of elements (central part—a century-old tree with a pomegranate in the core; a ball; a base; hands; a man; a lever; wings; a halo; a part envisaged for a coin; a heart; a cross; a bee; an apple; a fish; and threads).

03Cooling in the chamber

04Grinding

05Compiling

Skulptura

WE ARE ALL ONE – the first sculpture with an embedded original coin

Artist: Jelena BorovčaninExecution: Maestro Mario FurlanPlace of creation: Murano, Venice – New Murano GalleryYear of realization: 2025

Significance

This is the first sculpture in the history of Murano to feature an embedded original coin. The piece symbolizes unity, spiritual connection, and the balance between the material and spiritual worlds. Through artistic expression in Murano glass, the sculpture conveys a message of pure energy flow, conscious choice, and universal oneness.

Collaboration

The sculpture was created in collaboration with the prestigious New Murano Gallery, and crafted by renowned Murano glass master Maestro Mario Furlan.

Exhibition

The piece is exhibited at Atelier Muranese, Venice.

Artwork Description – “We Are All One” First sculpture with coin

“We Are All One” is a unique Murano glass sculpture that symbolizes the flow of energy guided by positive intention, unity, and spiritual connection. It is the first sculpture in Murano’s history to feature an embedded coin and a mosaic World Map on the sphere. The piece represents a symbolic bridge between the artist’s Serbian heritage and Venetian tradition.

Handcrafted using rare glass fragments, the sculpture features a central human figure holding a heart (love) and a cross (faith), surrounded by symbols of fertility, heritage, and knowledge. The elements are connected by fine glass threads — invisible links between people of similar frequency, carrying the message that everything we think, say, do, and create shapes the world around us.

The coin, placed within and above the sphere, symbolizes balance between the material and spiritual realms. The hands reaching outward represent the first energetic contact. The sculpture carries a powerful visual and energetic message of transformation, unity, and a higher purpose for the good of the global community.

Item 1 of 6

Latest exibitions

Video

Concept for the exhibition IDENTITY , Venice, October
2023

Lectures

APR / 2024

Lectures

Venice Internacional University, San Servolo, Venice

As part of the Cultural Diplomacy course at the Venice International University, at the invitation of Professor Giorgio Andrian, I held a lecture on the topic “Art as part of Cultural Diplomacy“

The lecture centered on showcasing the concept I developed for the “Identity“ exhibition, which took place in October 2023 at the Palazzo Pisani Revedin Gallery in Venice, in the vicinity of St. Mark's Square. By integrating personal, collective, and group identity and leveraging my expertise from the Faculty of Political Sciences, I devised an exhibition concept that strongly resonated with the Venetian audience. I presented seven maps, crafted using glass and coins. Drawing clear lines as identity traits and historical linkages between Serbia and Italy, I left a strong impression on the Venetian audience, resulting in an invitation from the International University of Venice in February 2024. The lecture was held on April 8, 2024.

***For more details about the “Identity“ exhibition concept, see the section EXHIBITIONS

People's experiences speak louder than words

The story with Jelena Borovčanin continues. We met at an exhibition where I was the curator in Venice in October 2023.

Jelena Borovčanin moves beyond painting elements in her glass installation thanks to the use of extramedia elements ranging from glass to mosaics, coins, more or less ancient, which bear the marks of the passage of time and encapsulate the proposed concepts in various exhibited two-dimensional works.

In her most developed and intellectually complex project, she is now conceptualizing a series of works at the Italian Institute of Culture in Belgrade that affirm a predominantly intercultural reading.

Self-taught in the field of art, with great and strong work ability and creative determination, she has matured in her vision, striving to capture the most traditional characteristics of the cultural world.

The merging of what has been and what will be—the exhibition in Venice was not a provisional display stage meant for itself, but a starting point for further development, which is especially evident in how a conscious and deepened use of glass has been perfected here. We are, of course, talking about refined glass from the island of Murano, which has so alchemically marked the history of Venetian art.

Saverio Simi de BurgisProfessor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice

Art critic and art historian

The openness of expression, as well as the symbiosis of lines, colors, and glass fragments, form the backbone of the fruitful opus of Belgrade artist Jelena Borovčanin. Her ongoing exploration in the realm of glass is transposed into powerful energy, speaking to us of the need for freedom and the strength of painting that draws energy from life itself. By implementing pieces of refined amorphous matter—pebbles, and in her latest cycles, coins—into atypical acrylic compositions, Jelena creates a world of self-generated visual art. This method of creating works is highly complex, as the compositions are in an intense and thoughtful dialogue of colors and shapes (enhanced by shimmering effects)...and are based on precise drawing.

All of Jelena's paintings are unique interactive energy fields through which we follow her creative journey, from her early works influenced by Klimt and Art Nouveau, through intimate stories of independence and love, to themes of communication and global issues, as well as reminiscences of the epochs of Ancient Rome and Greece.

The intimate artistic reflections of this accomplished artist are simultaneously universal, because—although displaced from the expected context—through the color and shine of glass, they evoke a profound experience in every viewer. With her distinctive sensibility, Jelena does not describe visible things but creates visions.

Maja ŽivanovićArt critic

"
The story with Jelena Borovčanin continues. We met at an exhibition where I was the curator in Venice in October 2023.
Jelena Borovčanin moves beyond painting elements in her glass installation thanks to the use of extramedia elements ranging from glass to mosaics, coins, more or less ancient, which bear the marks of the passage of time and encapsulate the proposed concepts in various exhibited two-dimensional works.
In her most developed and intellectually complex project, she is now conceptualizing a series of works at the Italian Institute of Culture in Belgrade that affirm a predominantly intercultural reading.
Self-taught in the field of art, with great and strong work ability and creative determination, she has matured in her vision, striving to capture the most traditional characteristics of the cultural world.
The merging of what has been and what will be—the exhibition in Venice was not a provisional display stage meant for itself, but a starting point for further development, which is especially evident in how a conscious and deepened use of glass has been perfected here. We are, of course, talking about refined glass from the island of Murano, which has so alchemically marked the history of Venetian art.
Saverio Simi de BurgisProfessor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice
"
The openness of expression, as well as the symbiosis of lines, colors, and glass fragments, form the backbone of the fruitful opus of Belgrade artist Jelena Borovčanin. Her ongoing exploration in the realm of glass is transposed into powerful energy, speaking to us of the need for freedom and the strength of painting that draws energy from life itself. By implementing pieces of refined amorphous matter—pebbles, and in her latest cycles, coins—into atypical acrylic compositions, Jelena creates a world of self-generated visual art. This method of creating works is highly complex, as the compositions are in an intense and thoughtful dialogue of colors and shapes (enhanced by shimmering effects)...and are based on precise drawing.
All of Jelena's paintings are unique interactive energy fields through which we follow her creative journey, from her early works influenced by Klimt and Art Nouveau, through intimate stories of independence and love, to themes of communication and global issues, as well as reminiscences of the epochs of Ancient Rome and Greece.
The intimate artistic reflections of this accomplished artist are simultaneously universal, because—although displaced from the expected context—through the color and shine of glass, they evoke a profound experience in every viewer. With her distinctive sensibility, Jelena does not describe visible things but creates visions.
Maja ŽivanovićArt critic

Item 1 of 2

Catalogues

Mercedes Benz AMG

We Are All One

MAPPE

Biography

Intuition is my guide. Passion for creation is my strength. Sentiment is my guidepost.

I graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences and received a master's degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade. However, these scientific fields failed to capture my true interest.

Following my intuition, passion, and sentiment, I debuted in the art world in 2017 with my first solo exhibition, and in 2023, I participated in a group exhibition in Venice, the birthplace of both art and glass—the foundation of my creative expression.