The bird
We start our story with a bird. When you look at it for the first time, you are sure to say it's a bird. You may guess it's a falcon, or a hawk. However, would you say that it's made of glass?
Well, exactly. Martin Janecký has developed a really unique technique with working with glass, so that the surface of his works doesn't necessarily looks like glass. Martin's figures are opaque, milky-like and not transparent and glassy. He achieves this effect thanks to sandblasting, which he does as the last stage of the creative process.
How did he start?
Czech glass artist who has earned global recognition, Martin Janecký, now 42. Born in Liberec, he started playing around with glass when he was 13 and grown to be really keen on this technique. He graduated from the Glassmaking school in Nový Bor.
He developed the biggest interest in creating animal and human figures. The faces are the most difficult, as glass is a hard material to model facial expressions. After all, it's cold and transparent. However, it's also most rewarding.
He doesn't create faces of people that he knows, he rather sculpts "his own imaginary friends", as he likes to joke. He created faces of different shapes and ages.
However, when you start sculpting faces, they all look pretty much like brothers, he laughs. They gain more individuality as you develop your skills. When he first started doing heads, he was mostly focused on face proportions. With time, he also tried more and more to create bigger sculptures. It takes up to 3 days to make the biggest ones, which is a super long time for blowing glass. To compare, regular glasses are blown within 3 minutes(!)
What were his first glass figures?
When he was about 13 years, his specialty were small glass figures with 'big bobs'. It was nothing spectacular, as it was a regular thing for young boys at that age to make these 'heavily busted' figures, he jokes.
Glassblowing
Blowing glass makes you remember that you work with hot material. One you burn yourself, you get to remember it even more. He doesn't mind the occasional burn here or there.
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He jokes that cuts would be worse for him, as he doesn't like to look of blood. Burns are pretty fine, though.
"It's an untameable thing that I've been trying to tame all my life"
Another tricky thing is the way glass behaves. It's really hard to master or tame. Martin calls himself a control freak. He can get really angry if the glass turns out into a different shape or way then he wanted it to. On the other way, there is beauty in discovering it again and again. Glassblowing is hard work, but it can be really beautiful, too.
The glassmaker Martin Janecký at work in his workshop in a former Baroque stable in the centre of Prague (2022) by Martin JaneckýMuseum of Decorative Arts In Prague
Glassblowing is hard work, but it can be really beautiful, too.
Teaching
Over time, he also became a teacher, which made him open up in a whole new level. "That's a great thing to do, but I couldn't do it all the time", he comments.
He doesn't teach his own technique. He is there for his students to develop their own skills, to help them with the tools. Martin's workshops are addressed to people who has a prior glass-working experience (at least 3 years).
It's not about making 'clones'
He says that as there are no two people who write in the same way, likewise there are no two sculptors who sculpt the same. Only when you start to learn, you try to make the same sculptures as your teacher, but, over time, you develop more skills and you don't really make 'clones', he explains further.
"Día de los Muertos has been haunting me for quite a while"
Mexico City
The Day of the Dead is one of the topics that he explored a while ago. He got inspired after his first trip to Mexico City, falling in love with culture and people.
He studied Mexican folk art and created a glass collection inspired by it. Mainly glass skulls were exhibited in Mexico City on The Day of the Dead in winter 2017.
Did you see how Matin was shaping the skull from within?
In English this method is called 'inside sculpting', as you shape the glass from within, working inside of the bubble. In Czech there is no exact translation of this technique. It's a demanding method, as you need to be constantly aware of many factors (like thickness of glass, temperature, etc). It's also a matter of having good and skilled assistants, which Martin has.
Apart from having working with good assistants that are apt in the glass art and resonate with you, you need to be mentally and physically strong. If you are not driven and motivated, glassblowing is probably not for you. You really need to put a lot of regular work and effort into this. Performance (glassblowing part) is not enough. Workmanship is key, too.
Martin enjoys working with his hands, it's something that he started doing quite early and something that he easily grew keen on. When you want to shape the glass with your hands and not using objects, you can do it through wet newspaper. No other gloves would do the trick any better. It's actually a common practice for glassblowers. A thin layer of steam appears between the paper and glass. Due to this, the newspaper will not stick to the sculpture. Only when he water dries out, it will start to to stick.
Martin knows his tricks and ways to mould the glass, but mostly it's not about tricks -- it's about liking what you are doing and he always liked glass.
Martin Janecký: Starmen and Other Studio Work in Glass. An Exhibition (2022) by Martin JaneckýMuseum of Decorative Arts In Prague
When he was a school boy, he would ask his dad to write him an 'excuse' from school so that he could sit in his father's workshop and blow some small things.
Here you can read more interviews with Martin:
📚 "Martin Janecký: Blowing glass for three days is an eternity" in N&N Czech-German Magazine
📚 "Glassmaker Janecký: I'm No Tree-Hugger, I Work Instead" in "Material Times"
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