Reproduced, with permission (email 18/9/2002, copy of journal article: Summary of the organisation and participants at the Panevezys International Ceramics Symposium 2002. 14th Panevezys international ceramics symposium, Lithuania, Artist's Chronicle, Western Australia, 86, 19-20. Read more about the symposium. Gallery & Symposium Website .
European Holiday?
|
Artists often come together in art form specific symposiums over the European summer. Graham Hay tells about the experience.
How would you like a month of no work, cooking, cleaning, child minding or other distractions? Just creating your own art, all day, or night long? Throw in a day a week for a tour of the sights and a couple of days at a Baltic Sea beach in summer? Were the price of a drink is half of what it's here and you have free board and food? Sound good? Not surprisingly, the applicants outnumber the invites for the 14th Panevežys International Ceramic Symposium, in Lithuania. Unaware of this, I sent a letter and slides to them on the recommendation of a Welsh potter I met last year and was one of the six overseas artists invited. My hesitation in accepting the invitation, due to lack of a steady income and family commitments was only marginally outweighed by glowing email replies from past participations and comments from my peers. So I bought a plane ticket, the credit card saw red, and I was off! Panevezys is a small industrial town of 130,000 people with Lithuania, a country located between the Baltic Sea and Russia. Lithuania regained its freedom in 1991 after 50 years of soviet domination. A third of a million Lithuanians were either killed or deported to the USSR as the Soviets systematically stripped the country of its intellectual, cultural and independently minded individuals. As the poor cousins to the European Community, Lithuania is busily rebuilding itself as the geographical centre for culture and economic activity for Europe and the Ukraine. Consequently the arts receive a lot of support. |
Graham Hay working with paper clay at the clay factory, Lithuania. Photo Sergejus Kasinas, Lithuania.
|
Group of participants of the Symposium at Panevezys outside the factory. Graham Hay is at back right. Photo Sergejus Kasinas, Lithuania.
|
Despite the repression of the Soviet times, some artists did relatively well, particularly if they specialised in large patriotic Soviet sculptures. After Lithuania regained its' independence, hundreds of these sculptures were dumped, only to be rescued and placed in a forest by a mushroom selling millionaire, as a very popular tourist theme park. On one of our weekly excursion we visited Europos Parkas, a Contemporary sculpture park, the brainchild of an art student 10 years ago. It features huge sculptures by artists from around the world situated in pleasant woodlands. Don't miss the world's biggest TV installation (unfortunately we did)! Our studio was a large clay making factory within the huge AB "Panevežio stiklas" (Panevežys Glass Factory), which converts European glass into car windscreens, tempered glass and double glazing. An informal tour saw us walking inside a large swimming pool size glass furnace (complete with glass floor) which usually contained 11 tonnes of molten (1300oC) liquid glass, from which four sheets of glass had been continuously drawn. As past Symposium participants, the clay factory artists Romualdas Aleliunas and Eugenijus Cibinskas, were always timely with their help, conversation and advice. Eleven emerging and established ceramic artists took part in this Symposium: Nerute Ciukšiene, Audrius Janušonis, Jurate Kirtiklyte, Jovita Laurušaite, Aldona Šalteniene (all Lithuania), Ludmila Kovarikova and Iva Ouhrabkova (Czech Republic), Steve Mattison and Meri Wells (Wales / United Kingdom), Anders Ruhwald (Denmark), and myself. We felt like locals after a few weeks, as the Lithuanian artists were so friendly, with many bilingual, so our group conversations were in a fluid mix of English, Lithuanian, Russian and Czech! The ceramic symposium is a significant local event with many newspapers, radio and television stations repeatedly covering the story in some depth, and even banners in the city square. This was refreshing after Australia and reflects the organisational skills and persuasive powers of Jolanta Lebednykiene, Chairperson of the Organizing Committee and Director of the Civic Art Gallery. The only conditions on the artists were that they donate three of their new works and a large garden sculpture to the factory owner, the Civic Art Gallery collection and the city of Panevezys. The balances of works created were for the artists to do with as they wished. The artists were also required to give a slide show on their own work, or a topic of their own choice, at a one-day conference. Visas are not a problem. Telecommunications and transport are both modern and generally reliable. The beer (or try a Vodka and orange) is cheap, cold and refreshing after a hot (30 0C) day in the factory, or a day at the Perth-like beaches. What more could you want? Information about the Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery Ceramic Collection, the 202 participating artists at the 14th Panevėžys International Ceramic Symposium and how to apply, is at www.grahamhay.com.au/Panevezys.html
|
Reproduced, with permission (email 18/9/2002, copy of journal article: Summary of the organisation and participants at the Panevezys International Ceramics Symposium 2002. 14th Panevezys international ceramics symposium, Lithuania, Artist's Chronicle, Western Australia, 86, 19-20. Read more about the symposium. Gallery & Symposium Website .
