Moderated by: Barbara Banaś, senior curator of the Department of Contemporary Ceramics and Glass at the Museum of Contemporary Art, a branch of the National Museum in Wrocław
Participants: Marta Drobińska (Art Documentation Center at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław), Katarzyna Koczyńska-Kielan (ceramic artist, professor at the Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław)
Another panel held within the project White Spots Exist Until We See Them, accompanying the exhibition It warms without burning, realized as part of the “Open Geppert Studio 2024” program, was dedicated to the history of the Ceramics Department at the State Higher School of Fine Arts (PWSSP) in Wrocław during its formative decades. The main protagonists of the discussion were female artists and educators who played a crucial role in shaping a generation of female creators emerging in the 1950s.
The narrative of the meeting was structured around the recollections of Katarzyna Koczyńska-Kielan, currently a professor in the Wrocław Ceramics Department, and a presentation by Marta Drobińska of archival materials preserved by the Art Documentation Center (ODS) concerning this period, including methods of their acquisition and processing. Art historian Barbara Banaś provided a historical outline, chronologically introducing the key figures in the department’s early years—from the pioneering work of Julia Kotarbińska to the activities of her graduates: Krystyna Cybińska, Irena Lipska-Zworska, and Halina Olech.
Julia Kotarbińska, an artist from the “Ład” circle in Warsaw, was delegated to Wrocław in 1951 to lead courses and develop a curriculum for the newly established ceramics specialization at PWSSP. She was joined in this effort by Mieczysław Pawełko and Rudolf Krzywiec. Kotarbińska was remembered by students as both warmly empathetic and a rigorous educator who skillfully demanded the completion of each design task.
Marta Drobińska spoke about the interesting materials preserved in the archive that Kotarbińska left behind, noting the paradox that only one of her works remains in the university’s collection. One fascinating document is a notebook filled with hand-drawn vessel designs by students, complete with detailed information about materials, decorative techniques, firing temperatures, dates, and even the students’ marks.
Kotarbińska visited the school biweekly for sessions focused mainly on shaping vessel forms. The design process included sketches, cross-sections, mold making, and casting. One stage involved working on plaster lathes and throwing on the wheel, though the latter was not performed by students themselves but rather by a master potter, Teodor Fedrowski. Students provided him with drawings and observed the process, offering only verbal input. Kotarbińska and her colleagues did not consider wheel-throwing an essential skill for ceramic artists. Koczyńska-Kielan reflected on this in the context of introducing wheel-throwing classes in the 1990s and noted that the primary forming technique during Kotarbińska’s time was coil building. She emphasized that the division of labor—designer versus maker—adopted from Warsaw was the prevailing model at the time. This model was later abandoned thanks in part to educators like Prof. Krystyna Cybińska, who, after a fellowship in Finland, adopted and promoted a full creative process from concept to execution.
Next, Marta Drobińska discussed the unique history of the university museum, established by Prof. Stanisław Dawski. This initiative resulted in an excellent collection of student and graduate works as well as a rich archive documenting educational processes. The Art Documentation Center continues to collect materials to enhance understanding of the academy and its environment. In recent years, the center acquired the valuable photographic archive of Zdzisław Holuka (6,000 negatives), who also documented the activities of ceramic artists affiliated with the school. The photographs reveal numerous exhibitions and classroom scenes and highlight the participation of Wrocław-based artists in making props and set elements for films produced at the Wrocław Feature Film Studio, including Wojciech J. Has’s now-iconic The Saragossa Manuscript.
The second artist discussed in detail was Halina Olech (1922–1994), a student of Prof. Kotarbińska and long-serving head of the Ceramics Department. Katarzyna Koczyńska-Kielan, one of her students, shared insights into the 1980s teaching system, which was divided into artistic and functional ceramics. The discussion emphasized how historical recollections have become valuable tools for contemporary researchers, despite their subjective nature. Barbara Banaś also presented selected works by Olech, illustrating her artistic evolution from vessel forms to sculptural and spatial projects.
The meeting concluded with a discussion on the future and need for protecting both the legacy of students, alumni, and faculty archived in ODS, and the archival materials themselves. The relevance of this work is underscored by the growing interest in past decades among art scholars and enthusiasts, and by the many yet-to-be-rediscovered figures within Wrocław’s artistic community—figures who, like those featured in this exhibition and conversation, are awaiting their artistic dialogue and recognition.
