For the 29th time, a ceramic and sculpture symposium was held in our city from 2 to 31 August. A considerable amount of time has passed since painters left their studios to gain new experiences, such as painting from nature. Today, the word “symposium” has a somewhat different meaning and applies not only to painters. It is more about creative meetings, meetings with people and with the extraordinary material that, for ceramic artists and sculptors, is silica clay and chamotte. It is also an encounter with fire, which can be both a creator and a destroyer. Krystyna Szczepanek-Haisig says: “I have drowned myself in this clay completely. Ceramics draws you in; it is difficult to break free from it.”
We are pleased that the numerous difficulties were overcome and another symposium could take place. “Today, when the state is unable to subsidize art and workplaces are concerned only with their own survival, it is valuable that among them there are those that have not withdrawn from their patronage, thanks to which artists can create...” wrote Zofia Gebhard in the introduction to the 1992 catalogue.
At this point, the organizers and sponsors of the symposium should be named. They were: the Ministry of Culture and Art, the Wrocław Branch of the Association of Polish Visual Artists, the Provincial Office in Jelenia Góra, the Municipal Office in Bolesławiec, Bolesławiecki Ośrodek Kultury, Ceramic Plants “Bolesławiec”, the “Ceramika Artystyczna” Artistic Handicrafts Cooperative in Bolesławiec, and Ceramic Plants “Przyborsk” in Przyborsk. During this year’s National Ceramic and Sculpture Symposium, we hosted 22 artists, whom today I will introduce only by name, reserving more space in subsequent issues of “Głos” for information about their artistic achievements.
The largest group of artists came from the Wrocław visual arts community. From Wrocław came Ewa Granowska, Maja Godlewska, Krystyna Pławska-Jackiewicz, Halina Kłosowicz, Krystyna Szczepanek-Haisig, Jolanta Kasińska, Paulina Pokorny-Ziemba, Jan Zamorski, Marek Ramis, and Czesław and Jacek Wiąckowie. Gdańsk was represented by Janina Karczewska-Konieczna and Andrzej Trzaska. The remaining participants in the symposium were Anna Stawiarska (Chorzów), Katarzyna Hałas-Łożykowska and Adam Lożykowski (Inowrocław), Marita Benke-Gajda (Zabierzów), Ewa Twarowska-Sioda (Poznań), Eugeniusz Molski (Kraków), Krzysztof Rozpondek (Brzeg), Barbara Cichocka (Oleśnica), and Bronisław Wolanin (Bolesławiec). The symposium commissioner was visual artist Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter from Bolesławiec.
The tradition of these symposiums includes the artists’ commitment to donate sculptures and ceramic forms to the city. Left in niches and urban spaces, they become a lasting testimony to the artistic values created here and now. Thus, last year visual artists donated works to the city—gifts valued at 153.5 million zlotys.
The symposium concludes with post-symposium exhibitions in Bolesławiec, Jelenia Góra, and Wrocław. Perhaps it will also be possible to organize a traveling exhibition within the “Nysa” Euroregion.