Dana Zámečníková (born 24 March 1945) is a Czech glass artist, painter, graphic artist, architect and teacher. She is considered one of the most important glass artists of the post-war generation that graduated in the 1960s.Helmut Ricke ed., 2005, p. 9
Life Dana Zámečníková was born on 24 March 1945 in Prague. She comes from a family of an architect and inherited her love for painting from her grandfather, who was an amateur landscape painter. From childhood she was a lover of circuses and animals, animal tamers, fairground rides, magicians, and later theatre and cinema.MN, Skleněné příběhy, Domov 3, 1987, pp. 37–39 After graduating from high school in Prague, she studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in 1962–1968.
After graduating from the Technical University in the summer of 1968, she went to West Germany and worked for a year at the Gottfried Böhm Architecture Department (Lehrstuhl für Werklehre, Die RWTH) in Aachen. After returning to Prague, she studied architecture and scenography at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (1969–1972) under professor Josef Svoboda and until 1971 she worked simultaneously in the "School"—architectural studio of Karel Hubáček of the Association of Engineers and Architects in Liberec (SIAL).
Since 1980 she has been working as a freelance artist,Joachim Kruse, 1985, p. 411 where she found the necessary freedom. The feminine approach, evident in her works, is emancipated, spontaneous to the point of instinctive and animalistic, but it has nothing to do with feminism.Michaela Šetlíková, Objekty, jimiž lze vejít do magického světa. Výstava v Benátkách představí české sklářské umělce / Objects that can be used to enter the magical world. Exhibition in Venice will present Czech glass artists, Lidovky 7.11.2023
She began working with glass in the 1970s, but her original approach soon brought her attention abroad and she enjoyed a steep career in the 1980s.Sylva Petrová, in: Contemporary Glass, Nakama Gallery 1991com/en/dana-zamecnikova-4x-storm/ Dana Zámečníková: 4 x Storm, Galerie Kuzebauch Her works have been purchased by major international collections in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia, and in 1993 she was one of seven artists worldwide invited to create a monumental Theatrum mundi in a 10 × 10 × 10 m space for one of the atria of the new glass museum building in Corning, New York.Who is Who in Contemporary Glass Art, 1993, p. 623Sylva Petrová, České sklo / Czech Glass, 2001, pp. 96–97Alena Adlerová: Dana Zámečníková, in: Horová N (ed.), NEČVU, 1995, p. 946Eva Hejdová, Čas vrstveného snu / Time of the Layered Dream, Domov 12, 1994, s. 46–47
She has worked as a guest lecturer at universities and glass schools abroad since the 1980sAlena Adlerová, in: Horová N (ed.), NEČVU, 1995, pp. 945–946 - Summer glass courses at Pilchuck SchoolSylva Petrová, 2001, p. 225 in Washington State, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1996, Philadelphia and Kent State University in Ohio, 1987, 1993, San Francisco State University, 1992, British Artists in Glass, Bag, England, 1986, Sydney, 1991, Mexico City, 1992, Japan: Miasa, 1988, Nlijima Glass Center, 1992, Toyama, 1998, Auckland, New Zealand, 1998, Tampa, Jacksonville University, US, 1999, Glass art and Science, Lisbon, 1999.Light Transfigured - Contemporary Czech Glass Sculpture, 2000, p. 153Jiří Šetlík et al, in: Prostor, světlo, sklo / Space, Light, Glass, 1995 In 1985 she was appointed associate professor of Glass at the Pilchuck Summer School in the US.Zbyšek Malý (ed.), 2010, p. 160
Dana Zámečníková is the wife of Marian Karel. She is a member of Umělecká beseda. Since 1997 she has been one of the donors whose works are auctioned in the annual auction for Konto Bariéry,Konto Bariéry (Charter 77 Foundation). She lives in Prague, in a house whose minimalist interior she designed herself. It includes a studio with its own furnace and a hall that serves as a summer workshop and a joint depository for both spouses.Machalický J, 2005, p. 171
Awards 1981 Sonderpreis, Glaskunst '81, KasselAlena Adlerová, 1988, pp. 54– –55 1991 Gold Award, Cristalnacht Project, The American Interfaith Institute, Philadelphia, US 1985 JAC Art Exhibitions '85, New YorkSylva Petrová, 2001, p. 254 1992 Kanazawa '92, Grand Prize, Kanazawa, JapanDana Zámečníková: Země v oblacích / Land in the Clouds, Prag Moon, 2022
Work Dana Zámečníková worked briefly as a set designer (Amphitryon, National Theatre, 1972–1973),Jiří Machalický, in: Dana Zámečníková, 2005 designed painted furniture, children's toys, information signs, interiors and exhibition concepts. She is the author of a television cartoon for children.Artists for Children, SČVU 1979 The essence of her thinking is working with space—first as a game inside the object, then inside and outside the object, and finally integrating the object into the space.Sylva Petrová, 2001, pp. 162–163 As an architect, she is primarily interested in the space created by human activity and the objects that contribute to its character. It is not about the order and hierarchy of space oriented towards function, but rather the involvement of every detail that co-creates the atmosphere. Detail is not a peripheral element in her work, but one that changes the situation, character and meaning of the whole.Kristian Suda: Dana Zámečníková - Objekty, Divadlo v Nerudovce / Objects, Theatre in Nerudovka, Prague 1980
Until the mid-1980s, she made mostly small spatial paintings enclosed in boxes, with intricately coded scenes of model stories (Theatre, 1980, Mechanical Man, 1981, Two Cats, 1984, Levitation, 1985).Expressions en verre, 2000, p. 44 She creates the illusion of spatial depth by drawing on several panes of glass in a succession. Her painting is characterized by simplicity to the point of being sign-like, offering an idea of the landscape rather than an image of it. With her humour, she introduces the principle of human spontaneity, exuberance and fantasy into a limited order. Her intimate works were at first poetic puns—a kind of personal kaleidoscope, created for the pleasure of the eye and soul (With a Cheetah, 1987, With a Bustle, 1987).
Later, she gradually enlarged the formats of her drawings, which were given socially critical meanings, letting them move freely from framing into space and often supplementing them with real objects, which leave it up to the observer to determine where reality begins and ends. The resulting image was first created by composing drawings on glass arranged in a row, but she gradually created more spatially complicated sculptures by joining the glass at different angles and by drawing the surrounding space into play through diagonal deployment.Eva Heyd, Viděni jako herci na jevišti současnosti / Seen as Actors on the Contemporary Stage, Ateliér 3, 1995, p. 12 The artist uses computer scans to process photographs, paintings, prints or reproductions of works to create illusory to surreal assemblages. Her works often depict existential situations (The Scream, 1990) and mix memories with visual fantasy.
Dana Zámečníková's dominant artistic technique is cut flat and laid glass or plexiglass,Pavla Rossini, in: Crossing Borders, 2009, unpaginated cold decorated with painting,Langhamer A, 1999, p. 265 enamels, silkscreen, sandblasting or etching,Susanne Frantz, 1987Milan Hlaveš (ed.), 2015, p. 103 which she combines in multi-layered spatial plans and installations. Thanks to her studies in stage design, she has brought narrative elements of "wild painting" to glass, with roots in the legacy of Pop art.Josef Hlaváček, in: Space, Light, Glass, 1995 The uniqueness of her work among glass artists is based on imaginative figuration.Jan Sekera, in: Glass and Space, 1998, unpaginated Some of the things Dana Zámečníková evokes in her work are reminiscent of circuses, fairy tales, theatre, diaries, infinity, magic,Karen S. Chambers: Artist and Magician, Glass 24, 1985 or, as in Venice, of overseas voyages, glitz, misery, the swarming of human beings, luxury and poverty. Her drawings depict colourful, defiant courtesans in high boots, Jews with yellow caps, woven pillows, strange tassels and, proverbially, the smell of canals. Zámečníková is interested in the meaning and spatial context of the stories she depicts or re-creates (White Bride, Black Madonna, 1998).Light Transfigured - Contemporary Czech Glass Sculpture, 2000, pp. 118–119 Her installations consist of glass panes of unequal shape, size and inclination arranged in space, on which colourful drawings and paintings are recorded as fragments of experiences, ideas and impressions.Yuso Takezawa, in: Light Transfigured – Contemporary Czech Glass Sculpture, 2000, p. 30 In addition to expressive painting, her works are influenced by the rhythm of movements, interpenetration, overlapping, mirroring and the appearance and disappearance of details when changing the point of view. In her spatial installations, she uses the optical properties of glass and the reflection of the surrounding space, which mix with the painted image and contribute to the final effect.Čiháková-Noshiro, V: O skutečnosti za zrcadlem / About the Reality Behind the Mirror, Ateliér 1, 1995
Representation in collections Corning Museum of Glass, New York,Dana Zámečníková, The Little Circus Corning Headquarters, permanent exhibition Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York American Craft Museum, New York Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco Contemporary Decorative Arts, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, USMFA Boston: Dana Zámečníková, Endangered Family Lowe Art Museum, Miami Mint Museum, NC, US Museum of Decorative Arts in PragueGabriel Urbánek: Dana Zámečníková Moravian Gallery in BrnoMoravian Gallery in Brno: Dana Zámečníková Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonDana Zámečníková: The Divided World (1990)Dana Zámečníková: Old Woman (1990) Musée des Arts décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris Musée des Arts décoratifs, Lausanne Musée des Beaux Arts et de la Ceramique, RouenDana Zámečníková: Falling Deeper and Deeper II (1990) Musée-Atelier du Verre, Sars-Poteries Hokkaido Museum of Modern Arts, Sapporo The Yokohama City Museum, Yokohama Toyama City Institute of Glass Art Koganezaki Glass Museum Kanazawa City Museum Niijima Museum Grand Crystal Museum, Tai Pei Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart Glasmuseum Ebeltoft Glasmuseum Frauenau Glasmuseum Bärnbach Mönchenhaus, Museum Goslar Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe Broadfield House Glass Museum, Kingswinford Gallery of the City of Prague, Prague North Bohemian Museum Liberec Museum of Glass and Jewellery Jablonec nad Nisou East Bohemia Museum Pardubice The Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth Victoria Museum, Melbourne Auckland Museum, New Zealand Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio Pilchuck School Collection, Stanwood The JB Speed Art Museum, Louisville Private Collections For an overview seeOne Hundred Years of Bohemian Glass, Takasaki Museum of Art 2005, p. 132Light Transfigured - Contemporary Czech Glass Sculpture, 2000, p. 154Who is Who in Contemporary Glass Art, 1993, p. 624
Realisations 1976 Glass partition wall 200 × 600 cm, Computer Centre Pilsen (with Karel Vaňura and Marian Karel) 1978 Glass panel 250 × 200 cm, sandblasted glass, Antique shop Prague (with Karel Vaňura) 1984 Glass panels 200 × 160 cm, 220 × 160 cm, sandblasted and painted glass, Pizzeria Praha (with Karel Vaňura and Marian Karel)Alena Adlerová, Contemporary Czechoslovak Glass in Architecture, 1985, unpaginated 1988 Glass sculpture, Czech pavilon, 43rd Biennale di Venezia 1992 Glasswall, The WorldBank, Washington D.C., US 1993 Theatrum mundi, Corning Museum of Glass, New York 2000/2002 architectural collaboration on the reconstruction of Kampa Museum, Prague 2002 Glass Wall (5 x 3 m), Mercedes Administration Building in Prague 2007 Acrylic Glass Wall (4 x 2 m), Palladium, Prague 2007 Sheraton Tacoma Hotel, WA, US
Exhibitions