Zoja Trofimiuk

2020 VAS SCULPTURE AWARD CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITION http://victorianartistssociety.com.au/exhibitions/exhibition/contemptVANITY, bronze, glass, gold insertion, copper, granite plinth, H 100cm

finalist

http://www.aptmildura.com.au/

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

 

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.

"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