Jana Büttner

Home / Competitions / Scholarships

Jana Büttner

Aged 21

Florence Academy of Art

Instructor(s): Mitch Shea, Maudie Brady, Per Olav Olsen, Thor Larsen, Ola Alaa El-Din, Melissa Kennedy, Jacky Chan, Eirik Arnesen,

Back to Winners List

  • Artworks

Strength

Clay

35 1/4 x 17 1/2 ins (90 x 45 x 29 cms)

Devotion

Clay

19 1/4 x 17 1/2 ins (49 x 45 x 22 cms)

ascend

Clay

28 1/2 x 13 3/4 ins (73 x 35 x 23 cms)

Summer Breeze

clay

13 3/4 x 7 1/4 ins (35 x 19 x 18 cms)

Grace

Clay

17 1/2 x 11 3/4 ins (45 x 30 x 21 cms)

Exhaled

Clay

11 x 9 3/4 ins (28 x 25 x 15 cms)

Anna

Clay

22 3/4 x 9 ins (58 x 23 x 15 cms)

Nico

Clay

23 1/2 x 7 1/4 ins (60 x 19 x 16 cms)

Day Break

Clay

14 x 8 1/2 ins (36 x 22 x 19 cms)

Sydney

Clay

16 x 12 3/4 ins (41 x 33 x 25 cms)

Nico

Clay

7 3/4 x 4 1/4 ins (20 x 11 x 8 cms)

Desire

Clay

23 1/2 x 27 1/2 ins (60 x 70 x 22 cms)

The Story Teller

Clay

14 1/2 x 7 3/4 ins (37 x 20 x 18 cms)

The Reader

Clay

16 3/4 x 11 1/4 ins (43 x 29 x 20 cms)

I have been studying in the Sculpture Program at The Florence Academy of Art (FAA) for the past two years.  

When it comes to talking about ideas, I have to mention that not only visible experiences, but also listening and reading are important sources of inspiration for me. Among other things that includes music and stories either written down or told by people I meet. One of my resent works “exhaled“ was inspired by a quote Sigmund Freud said “ Women are like cigarets, if you drag to hard they deny you there pleasure“.
Every personal project that I create outside of school goes through different stages. After developing an idea in my mind’s eye, I can’t wait to start putting it down in clay. I feel a deep connection with the material clay. It gives me the the opportunity to express myself with my hands.
I like simplifying certain parts of the sculpture experimenting with different textures and blending forms together. It’s like reading a book, you don’t have to read every single word to understand it, it’s enough to read the first and the last letter and your brain knows what the word means. I am trying to attempt the same thing with my work through blending edges and unifying forms. The beauty of working from life is that the pose constantly changes as the model moves. Although this is challenging, it also lets me choose which moment I wish to capture. This choice can range from vulnerable to powerful. I want to simplify the anatomy of the human figure it but still keep the body readable for the viewer.

 

 

Jana Büttner (b. Austria, 1997) is a German-Czech Sculptor currently attending The Florence Academy of Art, Italy.

Jana began her studies of Fine Art as a child at the Musisches Gymnasium, Salzburg in 2008. Aged 14, she transferred to the HTL Hallein School of Practical Arts to pursue her passion for sculpting. The emphasis of the school is to teach students to hone their skills in a variety of mediums. There Jana learned to carve in marble and wood, work with metal and model in clay. She graduated from HTL Hallein School as a sculptor in 2016.

 

In the summer of 2015, Jana worked in the Gallery Schloss Wiespach, Hallein. There, artists from all over the world are granted studio spaces to work in for one month. Jana found herself working with prominent sculptors like Gregoz Gwiazda, Debasish Bera and

Eudald de Juana Gorriz. Jana assisted de Juana Gorriz, an instructor at The Florence Academy of Art, in casting his figurative work. The Florence Academy of Art is the only school in the world which provides a three year intense sculpting program focusing on the human figure in clay. Working with Juana Gorriz confirmed Jana’s love of working with clay to render the figure and encouraged her to apply to The Florence Academy of Art where she has been a student since 2017. It was an immediate decision

Her goal is it to provoke emotions and encourage empathy in the viewer. The viewer should be engaged by the work, so s/he can identify themselves within it. The three-dimensionality and the space that sculptures occupy can create a natural presence. This has the potential to allow for an emotional connection with the viewer. Figurative works in particular can speak to us precisely because everybody can recognize oneself. That is why she likes to work with live models: each viewer can find themselves to a degree in her work.

Selected exhibitions include: „Symbiose“, KG Freiräume Hallein (2018)
“Your every movement“, Das ARTE (2018, 2019 - forthcoming).
“Face 2019,“ Society of portrait sculptors, La Galleria Pall Mall London (2019- forthcoming) „Figurativas 2019“. MEAM Museum, Barcelona (2019- forthcoming)
„ ARC Salon“ Finalist (forthcoming July 2019)

Selected teaching experience: Two week portrait sculpture workshop, Das ARTE (2019).

 

Her work is represented in private collections around Europe