Ivana Jirásek is an independent curator and writer specialising in contemporary studio glass and cultural fundraising.

Born in the Czech glass-making heartlands of Bohemia, Ivana is committed to celebrating the creative potential of glass and those who work with it. A rigorous curator and writer based in Sydney, Australia, she has engaged in glass-related projects for over 40 years.

GLASS ACTIVITY

Ivana has presented many curatorial projects including Diplomacy: Translations in Glass for Canberra Glassworks (2015); Transparent Things in partnership with Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Australia, senior curator Geoffrey Edwards and The Thomas Foundation (2000-2002); 10 Australian Glass Artists for Gallery Enomoto, Osaka, a satellite event of the Glass Art Society conference in Seto, Japan (1998); and diverse events for Australian craft and design centres (1996-2002).

At Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, she catalogued the National Art Glass Collection (1995) and implemented new storage facilites for the growing Collection (2002). As a volunteer at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum in (1991) she supported curators of decorative arts, gaining an induction into museum collection practices and administration.

A rare Internship (1990) with the late Robert Bell AM, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, gave her the opportunity to work on the International Directions in Glass Art project: a feature of the 2nd Perth International Crafts Triennial (1991).

Work in commercial galleries - Glass Artists’ Gallery, Sydney (1989-1991) and Coleridge Gallery, London (1987-88) specialising in British contemporary glass - introduced her to dynamics of the artist/gallery/collector interface.

Ivana is currently (2025-2028) a Board member of the ICOM International Committee for Museums and Collections of Glass (ICOM GLASS). She presented a paper at the ICOM GLASS conference, Prague, Czech Republic (2002), among others. She has been a Board Director of Ausglass - the Australian glass artists’ association - (2022) and held other honorary roles (1990-2001). She was invited to Judge the Ranamok Glass Prize for Australian and New Zealand Contemporary Glass on many occasions (2014/2009/2007/2006/1998 and 1997) over its 20-year span (1995 - 2014).

Ivana has published many catalogue essays and articles/reviews about glass artists, exhibitions, conferences and books for Glass Quarterly (US) magazine, Neues Glas (Germany), Craft Arts International, Object (Australia) and Ausglass newsletters. She was commissioned to write the 2026 FUSE Glass Prize Catalogue Essay covering highlights of Australian and New Zealand Glass covering 2024-26.

Her research paper for the Master of Art Administration degree (1997) at the University of New South Wales (Sydney) covering ‘Contexts for Contemporary Australian Glass: Strategies for public collections and curatorship’ received a high distinction. She is active in the arts sector and contributes to policy matters (e.g. National Cultural Policy 2026) having been Craft Policy Officer at the Australia Council for the Arts (now Creative Australia) in 2002.

More information is here.

FUNDRAISING

Ivana has also worked with artists, arts organisations, grant funders, individual philanthropists and philanthropic trusts and foundations to facilitate strategic giving for over 20 years. This included roles with Artsupport Australia an innovative entity of the Australia Council for the Arts (now Creative Australia). She documented its model for the first issue of the international journal Cultural Policy Update in 2011.

She was grants manager at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney’s flagship public art museum), Philanthropy Executive with Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra among other positions.

QUALIFICATIONS

Study at the University of New South Wales (Sydney) culminated in a Master of Art Administration degree; Graduate Diploma in Gallery Management, and Bachelor of Science (marine geology major) degree.

Click here to contact Ivana

Allied link: czlink

Banner photograph © Greg Piper.
Artists: Ben Edols and Kathy Elliott Emerge 2005, blown and engraved glass (detail).