Fused: a journey from artists in the National Art Glass Collection

• Ivan Polak & Stanislav Melis untitled 1981, free-blown glass

Cultural Background
Both of my parents were from Slovakia (formerly Czechoslovakia)

Place of Origin
Bratislava, Slovakia

Start of Migration Journey
Belgium, Germany - 1980

Place of Arrival in Australia
Adelaide, South Australia - 1980

First Home in Australia
Adelaide, South Australia - 1980

First job in Australia
1980 - The Jam Factory, Centre for Craft and Design – Adelaide, South Australia

Other Jobs in Australia
Keith Rowe Studio, Glebe - NSW

Any glass related objects that were brought over?
Because I had to escape my home due to the Communist invasion I could not take
anything with me

Ivan's Story

I was born in Bratislava, Slovakia and completed a degree as a sculptor and glass designer in architecture in 1969 at The University of Fine and Visual Arts in Bratislava as an Academic Sculptor and Glass Designer. The course was for five years. The school encouraged sculptors to explore clean form and material: this method was established under Prof Vaclav Cigler.
Until 1980 I worked as a free lance artist for state commissioned and private artistic projects specialising in stained glass windows, sculptures and architectural supplements in public buildings. I escaped the Communist system one year before I came to Australia and stayed with my mother's older sister in Belgium.
At this stage when we were immigrating to different countries it was very difficult for young people to handle the situation because we had no freedom to create abstract work. We had to focus on Socialist realism work, basically we had to do what the government wanted. Of course we could make work for ourselves but could not exhibit, there was no market anyway at that time. Eventually the Communist system started to crash and we had some more freedom but I had already decided to see what the situation was like in the West.
When I first came to Australia it was shocking sometimes for me because of the differences with Architecture and nature, like the coastline and the landscape is beautiful, something which is valuable for art. New images, new colours that definitely changed my work. During my early stage in Australia I had access to The Jam Factory in Adelaide after six months of being here and started working there in 1980 with Stanislav Melis who is a very fine blower. I knew about The Jam Factory through some people I had met in Belgium.
Stanislav helped me to apply for a grant and I was able to stay there for six months. I had already done some designs for hot glass and after working a few months with him I could use these ideas like shells as plates and images from the ocean and we started to create something different. I was immediately able to use my experience from visiting the different glass factories through my studies, using the various techniques I had experienced. We made some original pieces together and had an exhibition in 1981 at Beaver Galleries, Canberra where we sold a few pieces.
Later on Stanislav and I went our separate ways, I then came to live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and started looking for different media to work with, I have always worked both in sculpture and glass. When I arrived in Sydney I made contact with Keith Rowe who was building a studio in Glebe. I wanted to continue my ideas from Europe and said to Keith that we should do some work together. We did some paperweights, plates and that kind of thing.
I like glass as a material and enjoy using many different techniques, not just blowing. I have done slumping with the influence of water and casting, also lead lighting and mosaic. Quite often I like to use glass in my sculptural work if I can, it is like jewellery with the object, something unique and very beautiful.
In 1982 I entered and won the Blake Prize for religious art with a glass piece called 'Children of the Sun'. I won the national sculpture competition in 1985 for the Vinegar Hill Memorial with Blacktown City Council. I have done many projects for architecture, public and private buildings and churches.
My major work has been in Australia as I have lived here for over thirty years now. I have definitely enjoyed living in Australia; the countryside, travelling and seeing different landscapes and people. I just wish there was more of an orientation to art.