The Bolesławiec City Council granted Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter the honorary title in recognition of her outstanding artistic achievements. The councillors adopted the resolution on awarding the title in June. The ceremony presenting the honorary citizenship to the artist took place during the official opening of the 22nd Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival. The ceremony was accompanied by the opening of an exhibition by Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter entitled “Multiplicity.” The artist’s works are displayed in the lobby of Bolesławiec Town Hall.
Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter was born in Łódź. She studied at the Faculty of Art of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and at the Faculty of Ceramics of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, where she obtained her diploma in 1961 in the studio of Professor Rudolf Krzywiec. She is a member of the Association of Polish Art and Design Artists. She works in unique ceramics and ceramic sculpture. Her work has been presented at numerous solo and group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She has also participated in artistic plein-air workshops many times, and her works are held in museum and private collections in Poland and abroad.
She has lived and worked in Bolesławiec for many years. For more than 30 years, she trained personnel for the ceramics industry. From 1990 to 2005, she served as artistic commissioner of the National Ceramic and Sculpture Plein-Air Workshops and the International Ceramic and Sculpture Plein-Air Workshops in Bolesławiec. She organized more than 50 post-workshop exhibitions. For many years, Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter was a member of the Museum Council at the Bolesławiec Museum of Ceramics, and she currently also serves as a juror in the qualification procedure for the International Ceramic and Sculpture Plein-Air Workshop.
Awards and distinctions: Award of the Mayor of Bolesławiec (1983), “Distinguished Culture Activist” Badge of the Minister of Culture and Art (1994), Award of the Jelenia Góra Voivode (1998), Gold Badge of the Association of Polish Art and Design Artists (1999), Award of the Mayor of Bolesławiec (2004, 2010).
The artist’s works are held in the collections of the National Museum in Wrocław, the National Museum in Poznań, the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec, the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre–International Ceramics Centre, the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, BWA in Jelenia Góra, Kunstforum Piaristen in Vienna, Austria, and in private collections. More at www.boleslawiec.eu.
commissioned information