Author’s exhibition
Exhibition date: October 11th, 2016 – January 10th, 2018
Alena Lísalová was born in 1950 in Aš and has always loved to explore new techniques. She had started working with gingerbread like many others, creating small ornaments for the Christmas tree or small nativity scenes; however, her curiosity drove her on. Nowadays, she specialises in large-scale assemblies made of gingerbread. She most often creates Czech historical monuments, such as Loket Castle, the square in Cheb with the famous Špalíček houses, the Old Square in Sokolov with its church and fountain, and others. She created a model of Karlštejn Castle, including its surroundings, measured almost 2 metres in length and 1 metre in height, for her exhibition at the Museum of Nativity Scenes. She even included an actual nativity scene in the castle’s surrounding settlement. The Karlštejn scene took her three months to make, and she used 10 kg of dough. However, prior to any project, Mrs Lísalová starts with thorough preparation, studying photographs and cutting out paper models to get to know the monument from all angles to ensure that every detail corresponds to the accurate model. For her, the greatest reward is when people viewing her gingerbread structure, town, or square believe it is so authentic that they immediately recognise the monument. Such successful projects give her the greatest joy.