The city of ceramics is celebrating, and the colors of the Market Square are intended to highlight what is the festival’s greatest asset: Bolesławiec stoneware. On this special occasion, the PWiK company has changed the colors of the city fountain. The lamps in the Market Square will also shine blue from today.
Bolesławiec residents increasingly appreciate what distinguishes our city from many Polish cities: the stamp pattern on locally made ceramics. Ceramic factories have brought the city prosperity and fame for centuries. The Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival is an opportunity for manufacturers to present their products to as many customers as possible. This year, the wealth of patterns and decorations of Bolesławiec ceramics can be viewed at numerous exhibitions. Their locations can be found in the leaflet “Along the Route of Ceramic Exhibitions during the BŚC”.
Festival opening
The event promoting our city as the capital of ceramics began with a market fair in the Market Square. For five days, nearly 80 ceramic exhibitors from Bolesławiec and its surroundings, from Poland and abroad—Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy—will present their products in wooden stalls.
Clay mugs, plates, pots and butter dishes, as well as clocks and jewelry—all this and many other products can be purchased at the fair. The fair runs until Sunday, and the stalls are open from 10:00 to 20:00.
Two outdoor kilns are being built in the square in front of the basilica: “Four Sides of Fire” by Mateusz Grobelny and Terry Davis’s bottle kiln from Italy.
Pottery demonstrations
Pottery demonstrations will take place in the Market Square throughout the weekend. A Historical Pottery Demonstration led by the Loricamos Studio will be held under a tent styled as a medieval one. People dressed in medieval costumes will work using period tools. Their work will be interspersed with stories about old techniques for making, glazing and firing vessels, as well as information about the wealth of forms found in different periods of history. The presentation is complemented by an exhibition of finished vessels. The most important part of the demonstration is the opportunity to make a vessel by hand.
There will also be a demonstration of throwing on a potter’s wheel led by three potters from Bassano del Grappa, Italy, as well as a pottery demonstration by the Ceramic Academic Circle of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław.
For the first time in Bolesławiec, the First Potter’s Wheel Throwing Championships will be held on Saturday. The winner will take part in the World Potter’s Wheel Throwing Championships in Faenza, Italy, in 2014.
BŚC for the youngest
For the youngest visitors, the Ceramic Animation Town will open on Friday, August 23, in the square behind BOK-MCC. For three consecutive days, every child—and adult—can try their hand at throwing on a potter’s wheel, painting and stamping bisque ware. There will be pottery demonstrations led by the Arkuszyński Studio and pottery workshops by the Kopaczyński Family. The program will also include the “From Bolesławiec Windows” project, involving the creation of ceramic tiles depicting views—scenes of Bolesławiec—and the “Around the Clay World” project, involving the creation of a flat ceramic form.
On Sunday at 13:30, it is worth taking the children to the dramatized children’s program “Adventure with Pirates” (the square behind BOK-MCC). The children’s attractions will culminate in a Sunday concert by the band “Arka Noego”, held on the small stage at 15:00.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf/BOK-MCC; header photo: Jędrek 57)