Gizela Šabóková (*1952) is a Czech artist who works mainly with glass, metal, and cast iron. In the glass, it is primarily fused objects, constructed and painted stained glass windows. Last but not least, she works in architecture and public space.
Between 1973 and 1979, she studied at the studio of Professor Stanislav Libenský at the Academy of Applied Sciences in Prague. Around 1980, she began to create the first objects made of glass, followed by a series of works that the author called Nohatky and later Pranohatky. Since the turn of the millennium, he has mainly created large figures and torsos, fused and cut out of glass. She continues to work without a larger team, only with the help of her life and professional partner, husband Karel Bartoníček.
In the 1980s, she created countless architectural works, such as 13 large stained-glass windows for the renovated house in Týnská Street No. 1, which belongs to the historical complex of buildings called Ungelt in Prague (collaboration with architect Jaroslav Beneš). During this time, they did most of their work with her colleague Jaromír Rybák. Their results were successful despite their political non-involvement, and thanks to this, they have survived to this day. For example, the front windows of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic are worth mentioning.
It is represented in many domestic and foreign collections, both public and private. Her works are in the permanent exhibitions of important Czech and foreign museums, such as the Musée des Arts décoratifs in the Louvre. She has won several awards during her professional life. In 2000, she received the main prize of the worldwide “Vessels” museum award in Koganezaki, Japan.
Gizela Šabóková regularly participates in art fairs, for example, Brafa Brussels, PAD Paris, and Sofa Chicago. Since 1985 she has been a guest at the International Glass Symposium IGS in Novy Bor. During the last year in 2021, she presented a series of figuratively blown vases decorated with glass powders.
Teaching in the field of studio glass and glass painting is also an essential activity of Gizela Šabóková. From the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, she worked, for example, at the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington, Sheridan College in Toronto, the Center del Vidre de Barcelona in Spain, or the Atelier du Verre de Sars-Poteries in France.