Kateřina Šťastná
HIDDEN Podcast: Kateřina Šťastná — Breath, Thread and Cocoon
Description
In this diploma-series episode of the HIDDEN Podcast, sculptor Kateřina Šťastná traces a path from photography studies to sculpture, from fast ink sketches on a tram to embroideries that take hours to breathe into being. Her recent installation pairs five monochrome embroideries on chiffon, studded with glass beads, with tender yet grounded sculptures in plaster and concrete.
The through-line is breath: once a subject, now a tool for sensing shape without the limits of anatomy. The cycle also holds an intimate narrative about a mother–daughter relationship—how care can shelter, compress, and finally allow distance so both figures can grow.
What you’ll hear
Moving from photography (Brno) to sculpture (Prague) and why the studio approach matters
Breath as a working method rather than a motif
Turning quick diary drawings into slow embroideries on chiffon with glass beads
Why textile felt right for a theme of care, patience and repair
A “cocoon” sculpture as a safe chamber for transformation
Small model vs. human-scale sculpture and how scale shifts the viewer’s stance
Erasmus in Milan, first cuts in marble, and the reality of subtractive work
Social reception of the show, misreadings, and why open works invite projection
Meditation, yoga, and keeping focus under diploma pressure
Selected quotes
“I wanted a form not bound by anatomy, guided only by the feeling inside the body.”
“A drawing done in seconds becomes hours of embroidery so I can return to that moment.”
“Textile carries care. Each stitch is a kind of tending.”
“Plaster lets the fragility show. Concrete says the figure will stand.”
“The cocoon is a shelter where time can work.”
Kateřina Šťastná (lives and works in Prague) is a sculptor working at the intersection of drawing, bead embroidery on chiffon, and sculptural forms in plaster and concrete. She completed her MFA at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Studio Sculpture II, 2025), following earlier sculpture studies in Brno and an influential Erasmus term in Milan (first encounters with marble and a shift in material thinking).
Her public work includes a bronze sculpture for Telegrafia in Košice. Exhibitions include Curator Contemporary (Nuance of Breath) and the group show Pomezí identity (Vsetín). Her diploma installation uses breath as a working method to shape non-anatomical bodies and unfolds an intimate mother–daughter narrative across five monochrome embroideries and two sculptures that balance fragility and firmness.
