Zoja Trofimiuk was born Czech and comes from a Prague family that was a part of the high-standing cultural community. Her father socialized with many artists of his day, among them Professor Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová. But it was not until Zoja Trofimiuk emigrated with her husband and son to Australia that she became interested in glass studies, creating glass sculptures of her own.
In the 1970s, still a Czech citizen, she graduated from one of the best European university-type art institutes – the Academy of Fine Art in Cracow, Poland and gained a high-quality education as a sculptor, probably one of the best at that time in Europe.
Born: 1952, Prague, Czech Republic
Education: 1977 Diploma in Fine Art, Acadeny of Fine Art, ASP Cracow, Poland
1991 Master of Fine Art, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
2002 Studio Glass, RMIT, Melbourne
Graduate Diploma of Education, ACU, Melbourne
studio in Melbourne.
Represented by:
VAS, Victorian Artists Society
Bibliography:
Who's Who of Women 2012, Crown Content
International Directory of Experts and Expertise, 2008, ABI
New glass review, Corning Museum of Glass, 2007
Glass in Exile, PhD Sylva Petrova, 2006
The medal, British Art Medal Society, 1992
A SKILLED HAND AND CULTIVATED MIND, H. Edquist, E. Grierson
Who's Who of Australian Women 2010
A Dictionary of Women Artists of Australia by Max Germaine
LEXICON of VISUAL ARTISTS (8th Edition, Society for Contemporary Arts SCA)
Who is Who in Visual Arts in Australia 1996
Who is Who in the World (Marquis Who’s Who 16th Edition)
Medial 1.Art biennial 2005, Art Addiction Medial Museum, London
Outstanding People of the 20th Century, Cambridge, England
Art Keywords, encyclopaedic dictionary
2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century (Cambridge)
Dictionary of International Biography (Thirsty First Edition),2004
Great Women of the 21st Century (2004 Edition, The American Biographical Institute)
2020 VAS SCULPTURE AWARD CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITION http://victorianartistssociety.com.au/exhibitions/exhibition/contempt
VANITY, bronze, glass, gold insertion, copper, granite plinth, H 100cm
Children`s Games, monoprint, 55x75cm, Australian Biennial Monoprint Prize 2020, finalist
finalist
http://www.aptmildura.com.au/
Duet, dry point, 60 x 45cm, 2018, Australian Print Triennial finalist
RMIT Gallery, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000
Revelations represents a fascinating opportunity to explore stylistic and formal developments in the medium across more than fifty years and multiple generations, and to test the boundaries of what constitutes sculpture in modern and contemporary art. (The exhibition catalogue)
Zoja Trofimiuk, Bust of Francis Ormond, 1987, bronze, concrete, Commissioned by the RMIT Graduate Association
Who’s Who of Australian Women, Crown Content to be published 2014
A skilled hand and cultivated mind: a guide to the architecture, 2008, RMIT University
New Glass Review 28, Corning Museum of Glass, 2007
“The development of Zoja’ sculpture has followed a path that is a conceptual one of volume and space, always related to the human form. This sculptor, whether working in bronze or glass, is constantly tackling the problems of body-space relationships. Here is a sculptor whose work is intellectually stimulating and tactile. The viewer constantly wishes to follow the forms touch the textured surfaces whether they be ultra smooth or roughened. Always the proportions are in harmony.”
Noel Stott, Director Adam Galleries, Melbourne March 2005
National Gallery of Slovakia
The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue will focus on Czech and Slovak glass design, created outside Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic) after 1945, and which influenced glass artists all over the world.The project is curated by PhDr Sylva Petrova, for most specialist in Czech glass, now based at the University of Sunderland, UK.Further collaborators in the project include The British Academy in London and the Administration of Czech Centres in Prague.
Some of participating artists are:
Rosol Martin, USA
Tomecko Pavel, Australia
Trofimiuk Zoja, Australia
Zoricak Jan, France
Adam Galleries, 105 Queen Street 3000
Sculptural exhibition, exploring dialogue between form and idea. Figurative glass and bronze pieces.
Comments:
Congratulations on a magnificent exhibition! Lots of toil & effort with majestic outcomes. And, some subtle humour peering through in some of the works. Fatal Shore Robert Hugh’- silent and noble- for such a significant writer. ………….. Well done, Dan
Dan Wollmering (Dr)PhD.M.A.B.A.,Senior Lecturer in Sculpture,Monash University
November 2005, Melbourne
"ART & Creativity", "FAMOUS 100 Contemporary Artists" to be published in 2006 by World of Art, London.
Your art is amazing
Hello! My name is David Kohen. I have seen your art works online and I'm impressed. I think your art has a big future. Best Regards.
David Kohen, Art Manager, 7.10.2006 15:19:06, http://www.ArtBoost.com
Invited to International Glass symposium, organized by Crystalex, Novy Bor, Czech Republic. October 2006.
Artistic director Prof. Sylva Petrova PhD, internationally renomed Art Historian.
“The development of Zoja’ sculpture has followed a path that is a conceptual one of volume and space, always related to the human form. This sculptor, whether working in bronze or glass, is constantly tackling the problems of body-space relationships. Here is a sculptor whose work is intellectually stimulating and tactile. Here is a sculptor whose work is intellectually stimulating and tactile. The viewer constantly wishes to follow the forms touch the textured surfaces whether they be ultra smooth or roughened. Always the proportions are in harmony.”
Noel Stott,Dip.Art. B.Ed., B.A.Hons Director Adam Galleries, Melbourne March 2005
Major solo exhibition.
Gallery view, Adam Galleries, Melbourne, 2005, solo exhibition.
Moravian Gallery, Brno, Czech Republic
The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue will focus on Czech and Slovak glass design, created outside Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic) after 1945, and which influenced glass artists all over the world.
The project is curated by PhDr Sylva Petrova, for most specialist in Czech glass, now based at the University of Sunderland, UK.
Further collaborators in the project include The British Academy in London and the Administration of Czech Centres in Prague.
Zoja Trofimiuk is a self-confident glass practitioner who is familiar
with all kinds of glass methods. However her original artistic background remains untouched, which makes her artistic profile and
potential in glass quite unique and means that her work clearly ‘stands out from the crowd’. Not many glass artists have come into
the field of glassmaking from fine art practice, having even won awards at sculptors’ competitions (the Biennale in Ravenna, Italy,
in 1981 and 1990). And not every contemporary glass artist is capable of perceiving the physical and visual bonds between three
dimensional works and their surrounding space, or having sensitivity for the proportions of the objects – not to mention the ability
to create an abstract human figure in convincing movement. That is precisely why Zoja Trofimiuk’ pieces executed in various
materials differ in their conception and overall manner, because the translucency of the glass enables her also to work with inner
space, something that opaque materials like bronze or stone naturally cannot.
Zoja Trofimiuk is capable of expressing herself throughout the entire range of glass techniques, in hot glass as well,
though kiln glass is best suited to her type of work. Her original pieces are bringing back figurative sculpture into the field of glass,
and what is more they are helping to make the contemporary glass scene even more diverse.
Exhibition catalogue, Prof., PhDr Sylva Petrova 2007
In 1999 Zoja Trofimiuk created a new glass technique which she calls Graverre.2 It has nothing to do with the German
glass term ‘gravur’ or the English ‘gravure’ (engraving), as it is related to a mixture of other English and French words. The term is
created from the part ‘Gra’ which stands for ‘Graphite’ and ‘verre’ which means ‘glass’ in French. The essence of this method is
quite simple. The graphite or charcoal drawing is fused between layers of the glass sheets. The technique is ideal for capturing
the spontaneity of drawing, one of Zoja Trofimiuk’ strengths that ranks with the mastery of leading Czech draughtsmen such as
František Tichý and František Burant. However one can still ask what the reason is to draw inside glass and not use a classical
sheet of paper instead, which would be much easier. There is an answer: Trofimiuk can count on optical effects that are created
by the Graverre technique when the object is hung a certain distance in front of a wall and lit from the front. Light penetrates both
the glass and the drawing, creating an enlarged shadow that is projected on the wall behind. This creates depth, a third spatial
dimension which would be unthinkable in other kind of material that is not transparent.
3 GRACES, bronze, cire perdue, 2007, 40x34x42cm, 35x28x39cm, 35x30x37cm, granite base, welded steel pedestal
3 GRACES, detail
a Dictionary of significant women of Australia, published by Crowncontent 2012
