Nemzetközi Kerámia Stúdió - 5 kontinens kerámiái (Kecskemét, 1976)

INTERNATIONAL H-6000 Kecskemét, Kápolna str. 11. H-6001 Kecskemét, RO. Box 18. tel: (+36) 76 486 867 fax: (+36) 76 482 223 e-mail: icshu@axelero.hu internet: www.icshu.org The INTERNATIONAL CERAMICS STUDIO (ICS) is a world famous ceramic art centre located eighty kilometres south of the Hungarian capital, Budapest. The mission of the International Ceramics Studio is to promote the formal, aesthetic and technical development of ceramics, an art which plays an important role in the formation of environment cultures and to help foster creative skills. The studio is open to all challenges of ceramic research, design and experiment. With these aims in mind, the ICS offers the fo Rowing faci lities • eight studios with equipment • plaster workshops • modern kilns and traditional firing techniques • Museum of the ICS • international collection of contemporary ceramics • exhibition gallery for the invited artists • library and extensive slide collection Accommodation 2, 3, 4. Workshops 5. Kilns 6. Workshops of the Hungarian University of Arts and Crafts - Budapest 7,8. Workshop of the University of West Hungary - Sopron 9. Museum & Gallery of the ICS 10. Olsen's Fire magic kiln, i. The International Ceramics Studio (ICS) was created in Kecskemét on the initiative of Hungarian artists and the wishes of artists from Central Europe who had felt culturally and ideologically isolated during their recent history. It was the wish for freedom and the desire to work alongside international artists that led to the founding of the centre in 1975. Since its foundation the ICS has been maintained by the local authority of Bács Kiskun County, which is famous for supporting culture. A condition for visiting artists at the Studio - who either win a scholarship for a few weeks or months or are invited on the basis of their achievements - is that they leave some of their pieces made in the studio for the collection of the ICS. This is how a Museion has been created here - in the original, ancient meaning of the word: a place devoted to the Muses, where the source of inspiration is easy to find, where the created values are preserved and shown, where the works of the predecessors inspire the newcomers for perfection and where the collection of the pieces also enhances creativity. The current collection of the ICS comprises of almost 3000 pieces of art work from 315 artists of 41 countries and the 5 continents. An important and unique collection of pieces all made in this Studio. The Museum and Gallery of the ICS, which houses the collection and gives the opportunity for exhibitions for contemporary artists from all over the world, was opened at the turn of the millennium in a new wing of the Studio. After 10 years hosting the Master School of the Hungarian University of Art and Crafts Budapest and in a new cooperation with the University of West Hungary, Sopron, we still have strong connections with the university but a process is under way to create a new university level, under and post graduate education on the basis of the accumulated experience of the past 25 years. A school where, alongside the professors, leading Hungarian artists and world-famous teachers invited by the Studio, will teach while making their own work. Thus a special art complex will be created where, uniquely in the world, the invited masters, teachers and students live, create and learn together in an atmosphere where art, education and the respect for the values of different cultures, tolerance and internationality, in the noble meaning of the word, are in the air. The aim is to help a hundred year old dream come true, forgetting borders, ideologies and prejudice, that artists of nations and generations create a 21st century NEW MUSEION here. lános Probstner Founder and Director ICS, Fire Magic 2001 A kiln building and firing symposium "My fascination for expanding the look of kilns and sculptures has become very important to me. Every time I see architectural structures, like the famous Pueblo church at Taos, New Mexico and the Makovecz church in Paks, Hungary, I imagine them as possiblekiln designs", says Fred Olsen, speaking in his world Famous Kiln Book. The ICS brought together international ceramic artists, students and teachers to collaborate, under Frederick Olsen's guidance, on the building and firing of a new kiln. During the three weeks of the symposium a new concept in kiln design was investigated culminating in the large cross draught, two fire mouth, four chimney Fire Magic Kiln. Using traditional building techniques from both kiln technology and vernacular architecture, Olsen's organic approach to kiln construction created art from its fire and an artwork in itself. "Approaching kiln designs as a sculptural statement or composition may expand the way we all perceive kilns and the possibilities that are within reach to send kilns into the new century". Our grateful thanks to the sponsors and organisers of the symposium and to the staff of the International Ceramics Studio for their selfless help. W AYS PARTICIPATE 1. SCHOLARSHIP. Applications (CV, 10 slides of recent works, brief description of the project to be developed at the ICS) must be sent to the ICS address by the end of October every year. 2. FEE PAYING PROGRAMS. For further information please contact the ICS on the address above or visit our website at: www.icshu.org design: Steve Mattison photos: András Antal, Steve Mattison, Szilvia Krauker, student drawings: I. Frederic Olsen, II. Csilla Szilágyi and Petra Csányi, students printing: Yeloprint

Next