At the age of 15 I attended the Železný Brod Technical Glass highschool in the Czech Republic, learning how to draw and design for glassmaking. My return to the artistic glass practice led to an invitation to come back to the school for a lecture and residency in using the layered hot mold technique I had recently been exploring. The result of the experience was the creation of 2 projects using pre-formed glass embedded in the mold, and blown with the technical crew in the hot shop.
The inspiration for this house format is the ingenuity of builders who use whichever materials they have at hand for creating structures. I have come to love texture and collage, and structures which unintentionally invoke collage artistry peak my interest. At the same time the idea of “constructs,” the way we use it in language and identity is a theme in the work. We have parts and peices of “meaning,” more or less anchored in cultural and individual logic, which we have sewn together, often dwelling in these “spaces.”
The trip back to CZ was the first in 15 years! I was reunited the glass and drawing professors who supported me while I was studying, and with my amazing friend Vladimira who sheltered me with warmth and hilarity during my stay as a young adult.
