Cyril Hančl

Sculptor, stonemason and potter. He lives and works in Prague-Písnice, where he has his own studio. He graduated from the Secondary Technical School of Stonemasonry and Sculpture in Hořice. He has been making sculpture since around 1980. He learned the basics of the potter’s wheel in the 1990s in the Prague workshop of the master František Švancara; he has worked in ceramics for over thirty years. He works chiefly with natural stone — his favourite materials are marble, granite and limestone — but also uses iron, bronze, ceramics and wood. His sculptures are marked by restraint, a feeling for the material and careful attention to detail.

Alongside his free work he restores sculptures and stone architectural elements: he has worked on the restoration of the National Theatre and the House at the Stone Bell (a branch of the National Gallery). He first exhibited his sculptures in New York in 2001, with exhibitions there continuing until 2004. In ceramics he concentrates on wheel-thrown tableware made without moulds, especially tea sets; his tableware is used by the restaurant Eska, among others.

He has also exhibited at the Beroun cultural centre (the exhibition “From Fired Clay, Stone and Metal”). In 2015 he took part in the Art in the City festival in České Budějovice (the works Caterpillar, Brain of Nobody, Dark Matter and Return to the Planet — documented on Wikimedia Commons).