Art Jewelry – Sculpted Glass Creations

Exhibition date: July 2014 – September 2014

With our Summer Special 2014, we present the exhibition Sculptured Jewelry Made of Glass, featuring jewelry and glass objects by the artist Markéta Šílena, as well as sculptural jewelry by the artist Svatopluk Kasalý.

The Czech glass artist, jewelry designer and pedagogue Markéta Šílená was born in Semily in 1957 and studied at the Academy of Applied Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. The artist considers the person wearing her jewelry as the co-creator of her art, because once it is worn, it comes to life. The contrasts between the completely different materials glass and metal particularly fascinate her and she draws her main inspiration from the translucence of the glass and the structured composition of the metal. By the combination of these two materials and the sensitive handling the artist gives her jewelry a poetic note. The same harmony and poetry is found in her sculptural glass objects. Markéta Šílena mainly uses new silver and molten or cut and polished glass for her art.

The artist Svatopluk Kasalý was born in Pelhřimov in 1944. He has dedicated himself to glass art, glass painting and the making of mosaics. He was a student at the glass school of Železný Brod when Stanislav Libenský was its director, before he was appointed professor at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague. At the end of the 60s Kasalý began creating jewelry. His exclusive jewelry creations are individually designed objects that are to be regarded not only as jewelry, but also as designed works of art. He combines glass and metal to asymmetrical compositions, turning them into an organic unity. For his jewelry he uses lead crystal as well as particularly pure potash glass. The supporting parts are made out of gold or rhodium plated brass.

Objects of both artists are exhibited in international museums and have appeared in numerous European and American publications.