I shot this video at Pilchuck in July of 1990. I was teaching a class and Libensky and his wife Jaroslava Brychtova were the artists in residence. Pino Signoretto was teaching in the hot shop. What follows is my memory of what brought about this wonderful collaboration.
Pino was asked if he would attempt to sculpt in hot glass a drawing executed by Stanislav Libensky. Pino agreed. This was to be a collaboration between Pino Signoretto and Stanislav Libensky. Needless to say all the students were excited to witness this collaboration and watch Pino work his magic with hot glass. As I recall Libensky tacked up his drawing in the hot shop right after breakfast. Pino looked at it and asked a few questions of Stanislav. Pino’s and Stanislav’s conversation took two translators, Italian to English and then English to Czech and back again. It was a fun conversation. When Pino was satisfied that he understood what Stanislav expected he began to construct his interpretation in hot glass. It took a bit of manipulating on my part in order to get in position to photograph Pino as he built the horse head. I came close in a few instances to getting burned and got yelled at a few times to get out of the way. All I had in 1990 was a large and heavy Panasonic VHS video camera. The building of the horse head by Pino is complete from beginning to end. It was exciting to see and video these two giants of the glass arts. I think this video captures some of that excitement that transpired on that day in July. Unfortunately both these great artists have passed but we have this video to remember them.
I shot this Video in 1989 in Czechoslovakia right before the expulsion of the Soviet occupation. The beginning of the video shows the Libensky/Brychtova studio in the basement of Jaroslav Zahradnik's home in Zelezny Brod. His home was a short walk from the Libensky home. Jaroslav is Jaroslava's son, Stanislav's step son. One gets an excellent view of Jarda, Jaroslav’s nickname, along with Jaroslava’s nephew, Radovan, unloading their casting oven and removing the mold material from the casting. Stanislav eventually shows up to view the castings and gives his blessing.
The camera then moves to different parts of the studio where the viewer gets a glimpse of storage areas that house a history of their work together. This small studio eventually moved to a very spacious one where they produced many magnificent sculptures.
The next section of the video is at the Libensky home in Zelezny Brod and a relaxed dinner, conversation and an enjoyable time. I am seen at the end of the video with them at the front of their home. I have such fond memories of my times with them. Like many others they are missed. Everyone who knew them loved them.
In 1989 I was in Switzerland for the opening of my show at the Sanske Gallery. At the same time as my exhibition, Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova were having a retrospective of their magnificent sculptures in Prague. I booked a flight from Zurich to Prague in order to attend the opening of their retrospective. Fortunately, I had my Panasonic VHS camcorder with me and shot this video of the opening of that magnificent exhibition. It should be noted that the exhibition was just a few months prior to the fall of the Soviet Union as well as the fall of the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. To my knowledge, this video is the only record of that exhibition.