As every August for the past 30 years, the National Ceramic and Sculpture Open-Air Workshop was held in Bolesławiec. The 30th anniversary was marked in various ways. The workshop curator, Krystyna Gay-Kutschenreiter, invited the curators of previous workshops. Not all of them responded by attending, but those who came deserve to be mentioned. Krystyna PŁAWSKA – JACKIEWICZ, the first curator, came, as did Władysław GARNIK and Stanisław WIĄCEK. Krystyna STRUŻYNA – KUNECKA, who held the position for the longest time, sent her best wishes.
The workshop lasted an entire month. What was created during that time, despite the modest budget but thanks to the dedicated team of organizers and sponsors (whom we will write about separately), will be shown at the post-workshop exhibition at the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre at the beginning of December 1994.
The anniversary celebrations were organized on 13–14 August. Participants in the workshops since 1964 were invited; the list closed with 138 people. On Saturday morning, a discussion “around Bolesławiec ceramics” took place at the “Forum.” In the afternoon, the celebrations were enhanced by the opening of an exhibition by Barbara CICHOCKA, an artist from Wrocław and a workshop participant, as well as a stage performance by Teatr Nasz from Michałowice entitled “Remember the Prizes,” dedicated to visual artists. In the evening, the “christening” took place of a Hungarian-type ceramic kiln built by Krzysztof ROZPONDEK, a ceramic artist from Wrocław. The kiln, built in Piłsudski Square, aroused general interest—nothing like this had ever happened in Bolesławiec: a huge kiln burning right in the city centre! “Bolko II” was built with the assistance and at the expense of the “Bolesławiec” Ceramic Works. It burned for two days, and the ceramic works fired in it will be shown at the aforementioned post-workshop exhibition.
“I am convinced,” said Mayor Józef KRÓL, “that these workshops and these artistic activities centred around ceramics serve the advertising and promotion of Bolesławiec ceramics well. We provide you with workshop facilities; through your works, in turn, you indirectly advertise our city and ceramic industry. This is an extra-artistic effect of the workshop. We would like our city to be famous for ceramics /.../.”
It really did begin to become well known many years ago. Krystyna PŁAWSKA – JACKIEWICZ recalls: “With what was created here in Bolesławiec, we reached out into the world. We organized national and international exhibitions; visual artists sent their works to various competitions and won prizes. Quite simply, we had something to present on the forum. We did not fare too badly at the global ceramics exhibition in Istanbul, presenting works created here.”
- But how can one make a living from ceramics? – Could a city such as Bolesławiec undertake to create a Polish Ceramics Centre here? -Can it organize a Ceramics Fair (the first tentative step was taken in May this year, when the First Bolesławiec Ceramics Fair was organized)?
“BOLKO II”—a Hungarian-type kiln. In the foreground: Mayor J. Król, visual artist K. Rozpondek, and workshop curator K. Kutschenreiter.
Artists answer these questions; let us listen to them. Andrzej TRZASKA, a visual artist from Gdańsk, says:
“I will begin, somewhat pathetically, with small homelands /.../. The time has come to feel the identity of the small homeland, the place where I live, where I love, where my children are born. The time has come to identify with this place on earth and to be proud that here, in this city known for ... actually, for what? For gold—not art, but clay, because it is Bolesławiec’s gold...”
And further: “Art is a matter of luxury. Someone once said that first there must be a material base, and then the time for culture will come... Not true. CULTURE MUST FUNCTION EVEN IN POVERTY, because otherwise we will end up with prosperous boorishness: a person who has not learned to love a small, well-formed object into which the artist’s fingers have poured their yearnings will destroy and smash what the artist has made.”
Asked how an artist can help the city, he replies that an artist can leave their mark by designing street lamps, fountains, façades and so on. A Polish Ceramics Centre in Bolesławiec? Of course. A fair? No one in Poland has an opportunity like Bolesławiec, adds Władysław GARNIK: excellent clay deposits close at hand, ceramic works, the authorities’ support, a friendly atmosphere, a commercial and exhibition centre—a centre where a workshop could be held as a living open-air museum; everyone could see how a ceramic work is created there; it would be fantastic! Krzysztof ROZPONDEK mused, concluding with the reflection that if the municipal authorities, ceramic works and artists joined forces, shared success would be attainable. Bolesławiec has such an opportunity.