Artist of the Month
March 2024
Vladimira Klumpar
Czech artist Vladimira Klumpar’s monumental cast glass sculptures are organic and liquid in nature. Studying under Professor Stanislav Libensky, she now shares a studio and casting facility in the Czech Republic with her son, artist Matyas Pavlik. Klumpar is a recipient of many prestigious awards including a Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant. She is represented by Austin Art Projects, Palm Desert, California, where she had a recent exhibition, Forces of Nature.
Click on each photo to the right for a full picture.
Vladimira Klumpar
Artist Statement:
The idea of rhythmic repetition is typical for urban environments and rituals.
The polished surface and optical reflections in each individual piece help me to create inner illusionary spaces that allow viewers to visually enter the piece. Seen from certain angles, these spaces and colors intensity can be multiplied. In a certain sense, their technical character is the opposite of the natural one.
Negative and positive space reflects life’s duality for me. The dynamic of the city I love, as much as my desire for peace and harmony, are constants with nature.
In these difficult times in the current world, I feel that creating beauty is important as a balance to all those horrors we are facing in terms of environmental catastrophes and human suffering.
About Vladimira Klumpar
Vladimira Klumpar’s often monumental works run counter to the traditional Czech geometric esthetic. The organic, often liquid nature of her forms is her unique vocabulary. Modeling in clay, she creates sculpture that would be successful in any medium, however her understanding and mastery of the properties of glass offer viewers of her works a dynamic experience. She serves as a unique figure in the Czech glass community.
Klumpar was born in the Czech Republic in 1954. At the age of fifteen, she began her studies as an artist at the High School of Applied Arts for Glassmaking in Zelezny Brod. Her dream was fulfilled when she was then accepted into the prestigious Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design and Professor Stanislav Libensky’s studio. After marrying studio glass pioneer Michael Pavlik, Klumpar moved to the United States and created a studio - building kilns and creating a workshop for cold working in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. In the ensuing years, Klumpar returned to the Czech Republic while maintaining residences in Mexico and Portugal. She currently shares a studio and casting facility with her son, artist Matyas Pavlik.
Klumpar has been a recipient of many prestigious awards including a Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant. Her work is included in numerous public collections, including the Corning Museum of Glass; Museum of Glass, Tacoma; Denver Art Museum; and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, Czech Republic, among others.
Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Austin Art Projects, Palm Desert, California, for providing the Artist of the Month.
The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to further the development and appreciation of art made from glass.
The Alliance informs collectors, critics and curators by encouraging and supporting museum exhibitions, university glass departments and specialized teaching programs, regional collector groups, visits to private collections, and public seminars.
