about the author

It seems symbolic that Lenka was born on Children’s Day, addicted to the magic of nature, animals, toys, puppets and games. Like any other child, except Lenka hasn’t abandoned her world of dreams. For her the Folk School of Art was more than a hobby, she was forced to perform even if she still didn’t realize that the world of children’s puppet theater would open up a path to the systematic creation that in the end would project itself into all of her activities.

Despite her parents’ protests she asserted her desire to study at a secondary school of art and design with Professor Viktor Fixl.

The discipline of toy-making – puppets, became her long-term profession and ensured her future success. She began working at Hamiro in Přibram as an independent artist, later, with her own company breaking into the world market and gaining success. Toy Excellence of the Year and Right Toy are certainly no commonplace awards.

But business isn’t enough for Lenka, it really doesn’t interest her all that much. She has a sensitive, romantic disposition; she often dreams, requires change and adventure. She runs from the world of commerce to the forest, to her dog, her flowers, garden, and ponds, to the log cabin her husband Tomáš built for her.

She’s no stranger to manual labor, alternating between intense work in the garden and creating delicate floral arrangements. Here, all around, one can follow along the romantic poetry of the fragile vulnerable landscapes. White and pink water lilies, rugged stones in the subtle embrace of the grass, dogs basking in the sun, huge trees. As if in a mysterious forest.

She brings this fabulous countryside to her paintings, in which gardens and houses cower before the wind and frost, where trees bend … The contrast of the frailty of human nature against the power of nature. Lenka’s oil-paintings are filled with admiration for the humble beauty of the world and not only that, but the fear of its destruction as well.

It is preciscely this fragility that is the strongest characteristic feature of her work and why it is so charming to sit in front of her paintings, while petting a cat or a dog, daydreaming and wandering for a while in fairy tales.

Jennifer Helia DeFelice