Afterglow

What is the relationship between light and ceramics? How does light affect the colour and texture of the enamel, and the structure of clay ... The answers to these and other questions can be found at our new summer exhibition.

This is the eighth joint exhibition featuring ceramic artwork by Monika Dąbrowska-Picewicz, Remigiusz Gryt, Jolanta Herma-Pasińska and Adam Sobota. The four artists have been staging such exhibitions for eighteen years, sometimes emulating, sometimes puzzling each other. The themes of subsequent presentations, which they choose together, usually stand in opposition to those presented in previous exhibitions – a strategy allowing them to avoid routine and remain open to different points of view.

What will they present this time?

Adam Sobota:
Although light is as a recurring element, it cannot be treated as the main theme of the exhibition. I only use it to emphasise certain ideas, rather than to illuminate the ceramics. For this particular exhibition, I'd been seeking inspiration in Gothic and Baroque art. Ceramics is only a tool we use to tell certain stories, but it doesn’t constitute the theme of our exhibition, and neither does the light.

Jolanta Herma-Pasińska:
I have long been interested in combining contrasting materials such as clay and light. It’s very much like a combination of spirit and matter. I espouse the idea that everything is energy. We, i.e. our body and our spirit, are also a form of energy. That is why I’ve created works in which I want these two aspects of our existence: corporeality (clay made to resemble human skin) and spirituality (energy, light) to connect in such a way that the border between them appears unclear, not fully legible.

Monika Dabrowska-Picewicz:
From the very beginning, I’ve wanted to combine the themes of light and forest. I love to observe sunlight penetrating through the canopy, especially when the sun is low, in the morning or evening. But I had a problem finding the right form, and although I live very close to a forest, the answer came in Spanish Valencia, where I came across some amazing bottle-shaped during a morning jog in a park which was created in an old riverbed. My first thought was: “ceramic trees”. As if they'd been waiting for my discovery.

Remigiusz Gryt:
I've been observing the partial enclosure of light in ceramics, its delicate, reflective penetration through porcelain surfaces, so that both the elements – light and ceramic object – obtain an equal level of importance and complement each other while emphasising the messages carried by the work. ________________________________________________________________________________

Previous exhibitions:

– DECEMBER 2002, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała, Exhibition of utilitarian ceramics by the WDYM group (Monika Dąbrowska Picewicz, Jola Herma Pasińska, Remi Gryt, Adam Sobota)


– APRIL 2004, Bielsko-Biała, Art Gallery “Fraktal”, BETWEEN – an exhibition by the WDYM group (Monika Dąbrowska Picewicz, Jola Herma Pasińska, Remi Gryt, Adam Sobota)

– AUGUST 2008, Galeria Bielska BWA, Bielsko-Biała, BARREN 1

– FEBRUARY 2009, Galeria BB, Kraków, BARREN 2

– SEPTEMBER 2013, The Old Factory Gallery at the Historical Museum of Bielsko-Biała, 4

– NOVEMBER 2016, The Historical Museum of Bielsko-Biała, EAR THEN WARE  

– JUNE 2017, Galeria Sztuki Tętno, Jatki, Wrocław, EAR THEN WARE 2


Monika Dąbrowska-Picewicz
Graduate the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Faculty of Ceramics and Glass. Degree in 2001 under Profesor Przemysław Lasak. Winner of the “Young Poland” Grand Scheme of the Ministry of Culture and Arts in 2006. Group exhibitions in Poland and abroad, including France, Switzerland, Spain and Britain; participation in international symposia and plein-air events in Bolesławiec and Luboradów, Poland, at the La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Tuscany, Italy, and at the Biennale de Céramique Prévelles-Tuffé in France. She currently lives and runs his own studio in the town of Kęty in southern Poland.

Remigiusz Gryt
Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Faculty of Ceramics and Glass. Degree in 1989 under Professor Irena Lipska Zworska. Numerous exhibitions in Poland abroad, including France and the Czech Republic. The largest collection of his works is in the Historical Museum in Bielsko-Biała where he lives and runs his own ceramics studio.

Jolanta Herma-Pasińska
Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Faculty of Ceramics and Glass. Degree in 2000 under Professor Krystyna Cybińska and Professor Przemysław Lasak. Minor in painting under Professor Wanda Gołkowska. Numerous solo and group exhibitions in Poland, Austria, Croatia and Slovakia. Winner of a grant from the Minister of Culture and Art, the Grand Prix award at the national competition “Ceramic Sonata”, and awards at the International Biennale of Ceramics Kapfenberg 2011. She collaborates with a number of art galleries in Poland and Denmark. For several years, she has been running her own studio in Bielsko-Biała. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the Art Institute of the University of Silesia.

Adam Sobota
Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Faculty of Ceramics and Glass. Degree in 2000 under Professor Krystyna Cybińska and Professor Przemysław Lasak. Minor in painting under Professor Wanda Gołkowska. Numerous exhibitions of ceramic and interdisciplinary arts in Poland. His sculptures can be found in private collections in Poland, USA and Sweden. In the intervals between ceramic projects, he is involved in various design activities, such as the IDEA 2002 National Invention Competition in Toruń (Poland) where he won the first prize for a website design. He runs his own ceramic workshop in the town of Przyszowice in southern Poland . _____________________________________________________________________________

The exhibition runs until 30 August, 2020.