8/2025 Protective factor – composition of glass figures

The object of the month for August is a composition of glass figures created by conceptual and glass artist Jitka Havlíčková (b. 1976).

Jitka Havlíčková was born in Prague. She studied at the Secondary School of Glassmaking in Železný Brod (1990–1994), specializing in design and the creation of glass figurines, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1994–2001), where she attended the Drawing Studio under Professor Jitka Svobodová and later the Intermedia Studio under Professor Miloš Šejn (1997–2001). Since 2001, she has been working as an independent artist. Her glass figurines are part of many private collections.

The composition, which evokes the peaceful atmosphere of a seaside beach, consists of glass figures crafted at a glassmaking furnace. It was created in 2018 in Železný Brod during the Summer Glass Workshop symposium. The figures were crafted realistically, with intricate detail; some were then placed back into the furnace and heated to varying degrees of melting. The installation was later arranged on a backlit panel of blue-green stained glass, partially covered with glassmaking sand.

This work was created as the artist's response to the persistent human desire to sunbathe—often to the point of excess.