The TONDACH Collection
While I currently reside in the United States I am also a resident at TONDACH, a brick factory in the Czech Republic. TONDACH has become in essence my patron. They provide me with an apartment, an art studio, a small gallery room, and a piece of land on which I have installed large-scale sculpture. They also provide me with all materials (paint, frames, clay, engobes, waxes) and access to any and all operations of the brick and roofing tile operation.  The Company is based in Austria and owns 27 factories throughout Eastern Europe.

Brick Sculpture
All the sculpture in this particular collection is made out of bricks. After 14 years of working with this material I learned to respect the fact that a brick wants to be a brick but I was able to push this medium, within its own parameters, to a great extent. Because many sorts of bricks are manufactured with different additives in the clay for use in various applications, I had to treat each type of brick differently. That is why some work is “hammered”, some carved, etc. The pieces are shaped after they are manufactured but before they are fired; then dried; then fired; then reassembled in the studio and finished. Most are made to withstand winters in Prague and can be displayed outside. I would have to explain each piece separately which I am not about to do.

Paintings
The paintings are made on “Sololit” (Masonite). The factory in Prague uses a particularly hard plaster that is shipped from Austria to make the molds for the bricks and roofing tiles. I have used this material as a base for the paintings because I like the textures that I can create. I believe the closest thing to it in the US is Hydrocal. I gesso the wood then apply the plaster, gesso again and then paint. Sometimes I include objects or forms right into the plaster…sometimes not. I use acrylics when I want the paint to soak into the plaster (somewhat like fresco painting). In the summer, when I can open all the windows, I like to use oils because it allows for different effects.  I then finish the paintings with a light coat of wax that provides depth and richness, plus renders them easy to dust or wipe.

Oregon
I came back to Oregon after being gone for a very long time…mainly because I missed the smell of the woods. Although I was born in Prague, we left when I was 4 and went to Argentina. When I was 12 we moved to NYC. Since then, I have lived all over this country but “home” was always Oregon. This is where my children grew up, where we built a house, where I studied with Weltzin Blix and was mentored by Jan Zach.

Although my work is inspired by all three cultures, I plan on splitting my time between Oregon and Prague because as far as I can tell I belong to both these places as much as I belong anywhere else.