Skip to main content
Loading...
The University of Massachusetts Amherst

 Thanks to the availability of Czech optical glass in the past, I started creating my sculptures from it as early as the 1970s while studying. My works are represented in many world public collections, I have received several awards in international competitions. I create my own cut sculptures myself, I created them continuously, when I was employed as a teacher and as an industrial designer for more than fifty years. I usually process glass in the cold state by grinding from a block or boulder, cullet of optical colour glass, sometimes I use melting in a mold, or reshaping a block by slumping or bending. Rough shaping is followed by lengthy smoothing and polishing of the surface and creation of texture. If the perfect polishing of the surface is the result of patience and technical equipment, the engraved or cut texture on the surface more speaks about the individuality of the creator, is his signature. My original technique is to cut glass with a chisel and hammer on the surface of my piece, but I use this chipping for rough and fast previose shaping, because my pieces are heavy. That is why I use the flexible grinding machine. A heavy glass object stands, I move around it.                          

In every human activity, three questions and answers to them are important in the solution process. WHAT and WHY I do it and HOW I do it. In artistic creation, the process of solving all these issues is called the Apollonian principle with an important process of preparation in the project, model, using rational procedures. The final realization is then identical with the prepared model, the project. This is how I work with a predetermined assignment or when processing expensive material. Sometimes, however, I proceed to the realization of the work without a prior idea, I am inspired by a specific material, a boulder, cullet of glass , proportions, color and the process itself. This principle of creativity is called Dionýzos principle, prefers improvisation, enthusiasm for the process, it deals only with the question of HOW .. The result, the theme of the work arises only in the process of realization. In my work it is possible to trace both creative principles.  

The glass material itself, its properties and its processing, the experience of everyday contact with glass is the most important inspiration for me. In an abstract form, I first expressed musical themes, later natural themes, but also life experiences, visual memories from travels, stories. The special luminescent properties of glass make it possible to express even topics that cannot be expressed by other materials. These are intangible topics such as desire, dream, feeling, etc.. Nonmaterial topic can be materialized by glass piece. 

My favorite technique is chopping glass with a chisel and hammer.     One reason is the economic reason, the removal of large quantities of glass material in a short time, the original and fast way of specific polishing of the surface, the adventure experienced during the stress of breaking. In this technique, two difficult and conflicting feelings are combined. The joy of the light effect of cut shells, a pleasant experience from the light of everything that glitters, shine. The second feeling is the fear of breaking the glass in the process of chipping away. The fragility and the optical properties are important properties of glass.                                                                                  

Coldworked blue glass that is in a pointy oval shape with blue vertical lines.  This is on a white background with a blue floor

Blue Fish, 2018, coldwork, 52 cm