A new sculpture by Kazimierz Kalkowski, a versatile and exceptionally talented artist, was created at the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre – International Ceramics Centre. Istotne.pl took part in removing the work from the kiln. The artist came to the Bolesławiec studio at the invitation of BOK – MCC director Ewa Lijewska-Małachowska. He spent nearly three weeks building the sculpture, working 12 or more hours a day, every day without interruption.
While constructing the sculpture, the artist also held a short workshop for adults attending art classes at the centre. The workshop participants were able to learn techniques that were new to them and gain some insight into the master’s craft.
Kazimierz Kalkowski has presented his work in Germany, the USA, Belgium and Luxembourg. His achievements include participation in 50 solo exhibitions and more than 30 group exhibitions. His more important works include stained-glass windows, sculptures in a church in Gdańsk-Przymorze, and Stations of the Cross in a church in Straszyn. In Bolesławiec, we hosted the artist, among other events, at the International Ceramic and Sculpture Symposium.
In the city of ceramics, Kazimierz Kalkowski found peace and space for creative work.
“The conditions here are luxurious for me,” says the artist. “The studio is excellent, the kiln is suitable for firing large-scale works, and there is peace and quiet away from all external stimuli. That includes family, friends, telephones, banks, dogs, cats... Here, a person concentrates solely on work. I started at 10:00 every day and finished at 22:00, while on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays I worked until as late as 1:00 a.m.,” added Kazimierz Kalkowski.
The artist did not name his sculpture because he believes that the absence of a name stimulates the viewer’s imagination more. That is why our readers have this fantastic opportunity to give Kazimierz Kalkowski’s work a title.
“A person works hard for several weeks,” the artist explains. “Then they name what they have created so that the viewer reads the plaque beneath the work, nods and moves on. When there is no name, the viewer has to work out for themselves what they are really seeing. Once I was invited to Osnabrück, to a mathematics university, where I was holding an exhibition. In the rush of preparations, I forgot to put titles beneath the works. The university rector, who was of Polish origin, was horrified. He told me that Germans must have everything described. They must have a title, an explanation of the title, a legend and an explanation of the legend. The opening was only five minutes away, however, so nothing could be done about the labels. I asked the rector whether he had good translators. He did; they were an art historian and an outstanding poet. I said that I would simply tell anyone who asked something about the sculptures. During the opening, the students were indeed confused because they could not see labels beneath the sculptures. The bolder ones came up to me and asked why I had not named my works. Then, with the help of the translators, I presented them with the following theory: this was a mathematics university, where students dealt with abstract concepts to a greater extent than artists. I suggested that the students use their grey matter and try to name for themselves what they knew. The translators rendered this wonderfully, and something extraordinary happened. The students had such improbable and unusual ideas for my sculptures that I myself took away more ideas from that exhibition than ever before,” Kazimierz Kalkowski told us.
We also encourage our readers: name the artist’s sculpture yourselves. It is an interesting and very enjoyable experience.