One could write a few polite remarks about beauty, delight, experiencing art, perfection of form and the artist’s subtlety. Truthfully, conventionally, without attempting a subjective analysis of the works of art. Let us not deceive ourselves: art, in its reception, always carries the flavor of deeply intimate and personal experiences, and although it fulfills the most diverse functions—from educational and formative to cathartic and compensatory—we always have our own emotional relationship with it. The creative process is similar: it can be ecstasy, self-abandonment, accumulated satisfaction, but it can also be torment, suffering, a cry of despair and pain. These reflections erupt in the viewer upon crossing the threshold of an extraordinary oasis of beauty in the Bolesławiec museum, which is exhibiting works by the Danish artist Karen Park. This world of ceramics cannot be assessed or classified, confined within commonplace judgments. It is too rich, fascinating, unique, unparalleled, escaping stereotypes and habits—simply different. The mark of communing with the gods of Olympus has left its imprint on the works of her hands, on her artistic concept, on the shape of the clay trays and their color, intensified and purified by fire. This is, after all, the wonderful art of fire, allowing us to commune with beauty, without which life simply loses its charm and meaning. That is why the word “enchantment” seems most appropriate to describe the state of mind accompanying our entry into the threshold of Karen Park’s ceramic sanctuary. For the record, let us note a few basic facts. A warm autumn evening on November 16. The exhibition hall of the Museum of Ceramics filled with the cultural elite of the town on the Bóbr. A warm address by director Teresa Wolanin, an expert driven by a lifelong passion and an eternal search for the truth and history of Bolesławiec ceramics. Mayor Józef Król spoke interestingly not only about the exhibition, but also about the city’s ties with Denmark and its partner city Hobro, which a delegation of teachers had recently visited. The artist herself, whose exhibition was sponsored by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Danish Ministry of Culture and Danish foundations, spoke briefly, but beautifully and wisely. Karen Park, a great artist who taught, among other places, at American universities in Washington, North Dakota, Colorado, Stockbridge College-Massachusetts and the Canadian University of Calgary, needs no publicity, and true art needs no words to justify its existence. But what accounts for the artist’s interest in Bolesławiec?
She first came here a quarter of a century ago as a designer for a Copenhagen company, to produce a set of functional ceramics she had designed at the “Ceramika Artystyczna” Cooperative. Here she discovered the remarkable stoneware clay, to which she would remain faithful in creating unique works. Let us recall at this point her long, rich and fascinating biographical and artistic journey: born in Denmark’s capital, she spent her childhood in Estonia, traveling with her engineer father, who was building railway lines. In 1948, she graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts with a ceramics diploma; she studied in Florence, then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and at a similar institution in Mexico City.
Her familiarity with so many different artistic centers and cultures—she traveled to nearly every part of the globe—resulted in an extraordinary diversity of works, styles, solutions and formal explorations. Add genuine talent and a passion for creation, extraordinary diligence, and truly Benedictine precision and patience, and we will find the key to her great creative output.
During the “Bolesławiec period” and afterward, she created series of large ceramic reliefs whose surfaces are covered with small elements derived from organic forms, generally arranged in rhythmic compositions and restrained in color, limited to shades of turquoise, beige and white. Similar shades appear in her fountains, mainly in turquoise tones, bringing to mind underwater worlds—the flora and fauna reflected in the mirror-like surface of the water.
In the 1980s (I quote from the exhibition catalogue), she created a series of works intended for display in natural surroundings: fairly large, cylindrical, regular forms, sometimes ending like mushrooms, in neutral colors or white and covered with geometric ornamentation reminiscent of decorative Native American motifs. These forms were also used, in combination with wood, to create comfortable yet decorative benches that could be incorporated into urban development.
Another variation on these forms was created: a rounded cylinder covered with natural, irregular circles of varying sizes, suggesting organic forms. This is known as the ecological series. Her most recent works are ceramic trees made up of several or a dozen overlapping identical geometric elements in a uniform, natural color. The artist prepared the current exhibition over two years, specifically for the Bolesławiec museum. It is a gesture of friendship, but at the same time a work perfect in every detail, every compositional element and in its use of space. Rarely can one admire such great artistic mastery, or speak with an artist who radiates warmth and cordiality while also being so accomplished and remarkably modest. I exchanged only a few sentences with her, and truly do not know what to admire more: the personality of the human being and artist, who communes daily with the Olympian gods of art, or the fascinating harvest of an unbridled talent that the envious rulers of the sacred mountain of the Greeks do not distribute too generously... For here, unquestionably, an explosion of beauty enchanted in fragile ceramics has taken place. One can create beautiful things in clay and from clay, but for them to be this beautiful—it is simply difficult to believe... As delicate and subtle as ancient Chinese porcelain, and as rich as the life and forms of the Australian coral reef. This cannot be described; one must see it for oneself and ... experience it. I was once shocked by the collections admired in Berlin’s Pergamon Museum. A new shock, amazement, admiration and fascination were brought by the Bolesławiec exhibition of the Danish artist Karen Park. For this I offer my heartfelt thanks and bow my head before her great talent and creative achievements.