This time, instead of offering a subjective assessment of the great and genuinely impressive exhibition of ceramic and sculptural works—the fruit of a summer workshop attended by several dozen artists—let us give the artists themselves the floor. As always, the BOK exhibition hall kindly provided the venue; as always, a carefully prepared, colorful exhibition catalogue was published, and there was also an intimate opening attended above all by the main protagonists and local art lovers. The workshop commissioner, Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter of Bolesławiec (let us add that she has devoted much heart, effort and organizational talent to the Bolesławiec workshops), Kazimierz Raksa, representing the Culture Department of the Voivodeship Office, and the city authorities were all in agreement in assessing the phenomenon that the ceramic and sculptural workshop has undoubtedly become: it is a major cultural event, unprecedented on a national scale because of its continuity, artistic standard, stature and growing international renown. It is more than the promotion of the city, which is why it is worth actively supporting the artists’ future endeavors, as they donate part of their output to our city. And the exhibition had to be seen in person; it simply cannot be described... The catalogue itself also contains a wealth of information. And now, let us give the artists the floor.Janina Bany-Kozłowska – from Bolesławiec: I wonder whether I can talk about my work in a way that conveys my feelings and impressions. The imagination is constantly at work, after all, offering ideas, while what comes of them is always a great unknown to me.Mieczysław Kozłowski – from Bolesławiec: I firmly stand on the side of “impressionistic” art. Beauty in art arises from truth immersed in impressions—in the impressions we experience when looking at nature. When creating on canvas, paper or, this time, in clay, I want to remain faithful to my visions and impressions.Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter – from Bolesławiec: Nature and my fascination with it stimulate all my artistic activities. Sometimes they are almost exact transformations of nature’s rich and vibrant forms—tangled rhizomes and roots, bursting spores, rough, intricate patterns in bark—and sometimes a static, orderly forest of stems and columns of trees. Depending on my inner “vibrations,” I move from one form of expression to another. The works I am making now are my reminiscence of summer hikes in the Beskids. Unfortunately, many ideas and concepts most often swirl around in my head and heart, while the ever-growing organizational duties of the workshops in Bolesławiec limit my contact with the material. What remains is the satisfaction that, perhaps through my efforts, an outstanding work will come into being and wonderful shared creative encounters will be remembered.Czesław Wiącek – “The Vehicle Man”Władysław Garnik: This year I worked at a clinker brickworks and used ready-made material in the form of wet bricks. For me, this means discovering new “working possibilities.” I have long wanted to work in a brickworks, and at one point I designed sculptural forms to be made in brick for the Gądów-Lotnisko housing estate in Wrocław (never realized)—I could even implement these designs now if there were a demand. What impresses me about this brick is its division into modules, the possibility of varying textures and colors, the possibility of making monumental sculptures, and the material’s resistance to weather conditions (clinker is highly fired brick). In addition, it is a fantastic reference to architecture. There is a wonderful opportunity to use the material in an unexpected way. Such a sculpture can easily be integrated into any architecture, but not only architecture, because it will fit beautifully into any space. My dream would be to create such sculptures in urban spaces.Danuta Krukowska-Zimny from Canada: I had not worked as a ceramic artist for six years. Thanks to this workshop, I am returning to the profession. My first feeling was joy that I could put my hands into clay. I had no particular ideas or concepts. I wanted to work. Ideas arose in the course of contact with clay and engobes. I made bas-reliefs—portraits of my granddaughter. I am also making forms inspired by a book by Tolkien that I read some time ago, in which there are living tree-characters. They are like miniature fairy-tale gardens in the colors the plant can offer me—shades of green, blue, gray and brown.Anna Stawiarska: I explore the subject of the stone—from the inside and the outside. I examine its form and structures. (W. Szymborska—“I Knock at the Stone’s Door”). This year I would like to present a two-track analysis of stone: 1/ its humanized form; 2/ its formal structure. The word “stone” should not be understood literally. In certain thematic groups, I even tell stories with an erotic undertone (“Queen of Stone,” “Predator”); besides, all my “stones” have souls within them. They are very simple and restrained in form, but they are never form for form’s sake. I choose natural shapes because I feel immense humility and admiration toward nature. We know nothing more beautiful than nature; all canons of beauty have referred to nature.Grażyna Szymała-Wołyńska: It is always difficult to define oneself. We expect someone else to do it for us. One can scrape away at least a little of the shell and say, in a single sentence: The tree is the symbol of creativity. “The sculptor too often makes the mistake of talking or writing about his profession. He weakens the tension that his work requires” (Henry Moore).Opinions collected by Adriana Sarnowicz