• Eva born in 1944 and Milan born in 1942 in Czech Republic
• immigrated to Montréal, Québec in 1968
• diploma in ceramics, sculpture and design from the College of Arts and Crafts, Brno, Czech Republic (1959-1963)

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As artists and husband and wife, the Lapkas work closely together on ceramic projects. Eva is responsible for the form of the figures, Milan for the glazes and firing. Most of their work together consists of studies of the human figure, usually serene, sometimes humorous, using large installations as well as single sculptural pieces. Their smaller works include Ancestral Hero (1989), a bronzed male torso, Palladion (1991), a set of three rectangular torsos of different sizes, the two smaller overwhelmed by the larger in a contrast that is at once amusing and unsettling, and Duality of Stillness (1998), a pair of figures, one stoneware, one wood, mirroring and shadowing each other simultaneously. In 1990 they created a series of large installation work entitled In Infinitum, combining abstract human forms on rectangular pedestals with painted architectural and landscape backgrounds. In 1992 they visited the Czech Republic, for their exhibition, Ius Imaginum. Dorota Kozinska reported the exhibition was "a great success, but it did not persuade them to stay in the Czech Republic. So they decided to do the next best thing - bring some of the Czech culture here." The Lapkas have been co-organizers of the cultural exchange between Czech and Canadian artists that took place in 1993 and 1996 as Interchange, and in 1995 and 1997 as Exchange. In the catalogue for 1995, Milan Lapka wrote: "One can sense the underlying dynamics that shape the works of these Czech ceramists. Inevitably, past and present social, economic, and political influences mingle to manifest themselves in different forms, distinctly or subtly, in the works of the artists." Eva Lapka was professor of ceramic perfecting at the Institut des metiers d’art and the Commission de formation professionnelle in Montréal from 1988 to 1995, and is professor of ceramics at the Montréal Visual Arts Centre since 1991. She has also received several grants, and won the first prize at the "Passions paralleles" exhibition in Blainville, Québec in 1991. Milan Lapka taught ceramics technology at the Institut des metiers d’art and the Commission de formation professionnelle in Montréal from 1988 to 1993, and from 1996 to 1998 was a teacher of art in the program for children with learning disabilities and the program for mentally challenged children, also at the Visual Arts Centre in Montréal.

Signes, echo et cendre
Galerie de la Ville, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Québec [Eva Lapka]

Exchange '97
Czech Republic Consulate General, Montréal, Québec; McClure Gallery, Montréal, Québec [Milan Lapka]

Terre en transit: Septième biennale de céramique, Trois-Rivières
Biennale nationale de céramique, Trois-Rivières, Québec

4th National Biennial of Ceramics, 1990
Biennale nationale de céramique, Trois-Rivières, Québec [Milan Lapka]

Doyon, Pierre-Simon, Sally Michener, Walter Ostrom, et al. 4th National Biennial of Ceramics, 1990. Trois-Rivières, Québec: Biennale nationale de céramique, 1990.

Kozinska, Dorota. "Czechs bring inspiration to Canada. Ceramisicists from Europe at work at Visual Arts Centre." The Montréal Gazette, 16 August 1997, p. I-1.

Lapka, Milan. Interchange '95: Czech Ceramic Artists. Westmount, Québec: Galerie McClure, 1995.

Leblanc, Guy, Christiane Simoneau, Maurice Savoie, et al. Terre en transit: Septième biennale de céramique, Trois-Rivières. Trois-Rivières, Québec: Biennale nationale de céramique, 1996.

Rosshandler, Léo. L'école de Montréal 1992: Premier volet. Montréal, Québec: GRAVES, 1992.