Zora Palova

Glass sculptor

Painting with glass

Zora's glass sculptures are influenced by her training as a painter
She draws her inspiration from nature, water and everyday life
She uses traditional techniques to create her works

Slovakian glass sculptor Zora Palova studied at the School of Applied Arts in Bratislava from 1967. She later specialised in painting and then in glass and architecture. Zora became a research professor and glass sculpture teacher at the University of Sunderland, UK, in 1996, later becoming a visiting professor in order to focus more on the development of her own work. Her early training as a painter greatly influences her glass sculptures, since she attempts to replicate the movement of brushstrokes in glass. She primarily works with glass due to its numerous qualities and characteristics, such as its large range of colours and textures, as well as its strength and fragility.

Interview

How did you get into this career?: As a child I attended art classes and at the age of 14 I was admitted to a secondary art school. During my studies at the Art Academy, I fell in love with glass. I finally decided to dedicate myself to working with glass when I met my husband Štepán in 1970.
What was the first object you made?: At the Art Academy in Bratislava we, as students, had the opportunity to implement our own proposals for glassworks both in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. So the first objects that I created were made of blown and flat glass.
What memorable experiences has this job given you?: Fitting an 8m statue in the Netherlands and then meeting the Dutch Queen Beatrix was a very memorable moment. Or perhaps the creation of a 5m statue for the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, which was inaugurated by Prince Charles, to whom we were introduced.
What do you love most about what you do?: Working with clay, because what I create out of clay is captured in glass. I like to use all the possibilities provided by glass: transparency in colour, working with light in a variety of thin and thick parts, working with the contrast of rough and smooth as well as polished surfaces.

Zora Palova is a master artisan: she began her career in 1975 and she started teaching in 1996