Alena Matĕjka
Graduated from the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Kamenický Šenov, the Czech Republic, 1985, and from the Department of Applied Art at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM), Prague, the Czech Republic, 1997, where she received her doctor’s degree in 2005.
She has received a number of national and international awards, including the Michael Bang Award at the Young Glass ’97, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft (the Ebeltoft Glass Museum), Ebeltoft, Denmark, 1997, and the Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass, Special Jury Award, Germany, 2014. She was a member of the Stanislav Libenský Award 2014 jury, Prague.
She has participated in 19 individual exhibitions and 4 two-person shows in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and the USA, including: Art from the Czech Republic, Gallery ARTTRA, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2000 (together with Zdeněk Lhotský), 2002; The Path/Magic Carpets, Museum of Decorative Arts, Kamenice nad Lipou Castle, the Czech Republic, 2004; Magic Carpets, the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, the UK, 2004; Between Heaven and Earth, Glasgalerie Stölting – the Gallery for Contemporary Fine Art Glass Sculpture, Hamburg, Germany, 2015.
She has taken part in above 120 collective exhibitions in the Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, the UK, and the USA, including: the Edition ’97, Kassel, Germany, 1997; Professor Kopecký and His Sphere, Sōgetsu Hall, Tokyo, Japan, 1999; Design of Czech Glass, the National Gallery, Trade Fair Palace, Prague, 2003; Czech Glass from the Renaissance to the Present, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Riga, Latvia, 2003; Vladimir Kopecký and His Sphere, the Chappell Gallery, New York, NY, the USA, 2005; Global Glass Art, the Global Art Glass Triennial, Borgholm Castle, Sweden, 2005; Czech Glass from the Renaissance to the Present, the Finnish Glass Museum, Riihimaki, Finland, 2005; 20 years on, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, 2006; Anima Mundi, GlazenHuis, Lommel, Belgium, 2009; Crossing Borders, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, 2009; 20 Years Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding, the Glasmuseum Lette – Alter Hof Herding (the Ernsting Foundation), Coesfeld, Germany, 2016.
She has created multiple projects for public spaces in the Czech Republic and abroad, as a realization in architecture for the Senate of the Czech Republic, Wallenstein Palace, 2000; a gift-sculpture of the town of Kamenice nad Lipou for the President of the Czech Republic, 2007.
Her works are included in many public and private collections in the Czech Republic and abroad, including: the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague; Glasmuseet Ebeltoft; Hessisches Landesmuseum, Kassel; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan; the Ernsting Foundation, Alter Hof Herding, Coesfeld, Germany; the Institute for International Research in Glass, Sunderland, the UK.
Alena Matějka is constantly searching for new paths in glass art. She likes to combine glass with other materials, such as organic elements or stone. She has been involved in several projects in collaboration with her husband Lars Widenfalk, a Swedish sculptor who works mainly with stone.
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