Maria Starzyk undertakes unconventional artistic projects. For four years, the designer has been creating designs for body painting during the Glina Show.
Maria Starzyk is also the author of the white-and-red decoration applied to 750 ceramic tiles that form the Polish national flag on the Bolesławiec monument commemorating the centenary of Poland’s regaining independence. She covered the white tiles with snowdrops and the red ones with poppies. The monument was unveiled in 2018. Together with Mariusz Ochocki, she created the illustrations for the 2021 publication “The Extraordinary Adventure of Franek the Jug,” based on a rhymed story by Grzegorz Nowicki. The artist is also the originator of spectacular peahen dresses featured, among other events, in the parade opening the Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival and the opening of the Ceramic Garden. Maria Starzyk personally sewed the first costume using peacock feathers. The subsequent ones were created in cooperation with other cooperative employees.
Maria Starzyk’s decorative motifs
Maria Starzyk works with stamps and brushes. Combining both decorative methods makes it possible to achieve a more realistic effect. Geometric, ornamental decorations are created exclusively with stamps.
One of the first stamped motifs Maria Starzyk created at the cooperative was the traditional Bolesławiec peacock eye. Over time, this ornament evolved and was modified until the peacock feather motif emerged, first in a realistic form and later in increasingly stylized versions.
Maria Starzyk also paints naturalistic depictions of peacocks—colorful royal birds. Realistic images of birds against flowering meadows or on blossoming tree branches appear in many limited-edition and unique decorations by Maria Starzyk: chiffchaffs, kingfishers, siskins, bullfinches and swallows. Many decorations feature picturesque landscapes with flowering chamomile, cornflowers and poppies, apple blossoms, peonies and irises. Maria Starzyk also creates stylized floral decorations: multicolored ones, green ones, black ones, and black ones with a red accent.
Maria Starzyk used geometric motifs, among other things, in a cobalt decoration resembling intricate lace, which was later repeated in other color schemes—ash gray and red. The monochromatic minimalist “Cobalt Clouds” decoration also deserves mention. Bowls and platters shaped like fish, designed by Mariusz Ochocki and presented in this decoration, were awarded the title
Good Design 2018, awarded by the Institute of Industrial Design.
Another interesting design consists of stylized townhouses inspired by the buildings of Bolesławiec’s market square. The vessels are encircled by a colorful decorative band composed of views of the façades of the market-square frontages.
Maria Starzyk’s biography and artistic career
Maria Starzyk graduated from the State Fine Arts Secondary School in Sędziszów, specializing in applied form. After passing her secondary-school leaving examination in 1973, she came to Bolesławiec. For ten years, she ran an art studio at a medical facility in Bolesławiec, organizing classes, creative workshops and exhibitions. She encountered the local ceramic craft in 1983, when she began working as a ceramics decorator.
In 1996, she began working at “Ceramika Artystyczna” Artistic Handicraft Cooperative in Bolesławiec as a decoration painter, initially in the production painting department and later in the unique-pieces painting department. During this period, she began creating her own decorations. She is currently one of the two principal designers responsible for the cooperative’s design work. She designs decorations and paints limited-edition decorations. She has introduced more than 1,500 designs into production.
She seeks inspiration in nature, which is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for her. Ideas often arise unexpectedly, for example during a walk, a journey or contact with art. In the design process, she modifies the pattern and often expands it. Her designs are extremely diverse; some are realistic, while others are stylized. Sometimes, when creating a new decoration, Maria Starzyk uses stamps from earlier works, freely combining different patterns; she repeatedly returns to her favorite motifs and discovers new aspects of them.
Group exhibitions and awards:
- 2021 Presentation of the book “The Extraordinary Adventure of Franek the Jug” by G. Nowicki and a ceremonial reading in the Ceramic Garden during the Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival; the illustrations for the book were created by M. Starzyk and M. Ochocki
- 2021 “From Bolesławiec Clay—Presentation of Contemporary Ceramic Plants Operating in the Bolesławiec Region,” Museum of Ceramics, Bolesławiec
- 2021 “On the Lower Silesian Table,” 30th Economic Forum in Karpacz, Gołębiewski Hotel, Karpacz
- 2018 Unveiling ceremony of the monument commemorating the centenary of Poland’s regaining independence in Bolesławiec; M. Starzyk is the author of the decoration applied to 750 ceramic tiles that form the Polish national flag on the monument. The white tiles were decorated with snowdrops and the red ones with poppies
- 2018 Winner of the Good Design 2018 competition for the outstanding design qualities of bowls and platters shaped like fish in the “Cobalt Clouds” decoration, designed by M. Starzyk on forms by M. Ochocki
- 2018 “Good Design” exhibition at the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw
- 2018 “New Design in Bolesławiec Ceramics—Colors of Independence,” exhibition of the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative “Ceramika Artystyczna,” BOK-MCC, Bolesławiec
- 2018 Presentation of the decoration of ceramic products by the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative “Ceramika Artystyczna” in Tokyo, Nagoya and Matsumoto, Japan.
- 2017 “From Bolesławiec Clay. Exhibition of the Association of Ceramic Municipalities of the Republic of Poland” / “Dall’argilla di Bolesławiec. Mostra dall’Associazione dei Comuni della Ceramica della Repubblica di Polonia,” Polish Institute in Rome, Museo della Città and Showroom Contemporaneo in Ancona, Mi.MO Gallery, Banco Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Town Hall in Faenza, Italy
- 2017 “Good Design” exhibition at the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw
- 2016/2017 “From Bolesławiec Clay. Exhibition of the Association of Ceramic Municipalities of the Republic of Poland” / “Dall’argilla di Bolesławiec. Mostra dall’Associazione dei Comuni della Ceramica della Repubblica di Polonia,” Polo Museale del Palazzo della Guardia in Vietri sul Mare, Italy
- 2016 “From Bolesławiec Clay. Exhibition of the Association of Ceramic Municipalities of the Republic of Poland” / “Dall’argilla di Bolesławiec. Mostra dall’Associazione dei Comuni della Ceramica della Repubblica di Polonia,” Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec
- 2016 Design exhibition of the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative “Ceramika Artystyczna” at the Kepler Science Center—Nature Center in Zielona Góra
- 2016 “Art from Fire. Stoneware Vessels of the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative ‘Ceramika Artystyczna’ in Bolesławiec,” Museum of the Mazovian Countryside in Sierpc
- 2015 “Stoneware Vessels from the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative ‘Ceramika Artystyczna’ in Bolesławiec,” Museum of Agriculture named after Rev. Krzysztof Kluk, Ciechanowiec
- 2013–2017, 2019–2021 “New Design in Bolesławiec Ceramics,” exhibition of the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative “Ceramika Artystyczna,” Bolesławiec Cultural Center—International Ceramics Center, Bolesławiec
- 2013 “Art from Fire. Stoneware Vessels of the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative ‘Ceramika Artystyczna’ in Bolesławiec,” Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź
- 2012 Presentations of products of the Artistic Handicraft Cooperative “Ceramika Artystyczna” in Tokyo, Japan
- 2006–2011 Presentation and sale of stoneware vessels on QVC TV, The Zanger Company, USA
- 2004 “Design of Artistic Ceramics,” BOK, Bolesławiec
- 2002 “Designers of Artistic Ceramics,” Museum of Ceramics, Bolesławiec
- 2000–2020 “Ambiente” International Trade Fair in Frankfurt am Main
- 1996 “International Gold Star for Quality” award for high quality in 1996, presented by Business Initiative Directions