Prirodne glazure / Natural Glazes

MATERIAL, MATTER, SOURCE by Nika Pavlinek

Opus magnum is the most crucial work of an alchemist, and the same term applies to the most important work of an artist. Opus summum is the mature work embodying all of the author’s extensive experience and skill. In alchemy and philosophy, prima materia is the source material needed for an alchemist’s opus. It is the pure, primitive, formless base of all substances, comparable to the heaven and earth, body and spirit, containing all colours and all metals. It fertilises and gives birth to itself and transforms all imperfect things it touches. First matter remains forever, for there is no space it does not fill.

Not all artists or alchemists among them strive for its unachievable transmutations. Not afraid to dive into the raw matter, some attach to it form and significance by way of deep memory. They proceed without a clear goal, guided by the origin and structure of the medium at hand. Trusting their sense of touch, they allow external perceptions and internal feelings to intermingle. The matter is permitted to shape itself, to give birth to itself. Lidia Boševski travels around locations all over the country, but she knows the country through the earth, the soil, as the matter. To her, earth is the original substance. More often than not, all the places mentioned here have found her, rather than being found by her. Without hiding, she sneaked through clay pits, quarries, building sites, along paths, roads, across the sea and rivers, from the island Lastovo to the north shores of the Adriatic, then around central Croatia, Lika, Moslavačka gora, and on to Slavonia and Baranja. Her work embraces and translates for us what is happening in other cultures because she abstracts them, not from above but from below, from and through the earth. Dipping her hands in every bit of soft ground that she finds on her explorations, she goes on to create works that combine the surrounding influences and intimate experiences. Searching for yet another handful of some wild and unfamiliar substance, she uses her small trowel to deposit her precious finds in a canvas bag that she always carries, all in an effort to expand the building of her opus summum.

Lidia studies the records relating to different sites, their history and geology, the characteristics of each found material and its typical uses. Her testing and processing of the found materials are not a scholarly, scientific, or expert exercise. She studies each material directly, with the help of her mighty alchemist’s collaborator – her kiln, which reveals everything she wants to know and passes a final judgement on everything.

For her, all layers of the earth are useful as suitable constructive materials or as coating, often promising a new experience or a total surprise. She uses purified clay as pigment for colouring canvas, and occasionally she grinds pure materials into powder. Accidentally found samples serve as construction materials, often applied in free layers. Some are mixed to get natural glazes. Her play is free and competent, she is both a child and an expert, unburdened by the outcome but supported by her extensive experience. Under her touch, the material quivers and points to her the way to go. In the finishing stage, she fearlessly subjects the created objects to temperatures reaching 1260°C, at which rock, ash, silt, gravel, sand and humus acquire extraordinary textures with unexpected glazes. Beautifully tactile objects find their use in real life. Using found materials she constructs her favourite open forms; pitchers, bowls, and other vessels. They serve to embrace, contain and accentuate a real live substance. These shapes hold, keep and offer, lending the matter an archetypal and also a cultural aspect – everyday utility. Thus transposed matter enriches its new urban home.

Lidia’s treatment of clay demonstrates humility, devotion and deep respect that are detectable in every motion of her hand. Inspired, perhaps, by the Enformel artists, she strives to steer clear of the classic and traditional approaches. There is no manifesto or programme embracing her overall output. She is a conformist, not in the social sense, but in her conformity to the natural order of things. Nature is the medium and the teacher to all those able to listen. Judging by her work, nature is an eternal optimist and the foundation of the aesthetic experience, because it affects the senses directly. Lidia is a natural aesthete, for her ability to observe is nurtured by feelings. The objects made from dug-up materials touch us on a level that is not rational. They speak with a language of the spirit of nature that can make each one of us an aesthete, a particularly sensitive creature, at least for a brief moment. Many people worship Mother Earth in order to feel closer to nature, both their own, and the surrounding nature. Some bow to her, some pray. Lidia worships by returning something to nature: ‘We expect too much, we take too much from her and take it for granted.’ These works will not be swallowed by the Earth, rather they give themselves back to her. Not as offerings, but as gifts revealing to nature what she herself may not yet know.

In the world of ceramics Lidia will always remain a sort of outsider, despite the prizes and exhibitions she has participated in. In contrast to everything going on in the urban context, she keeps to her cave, so to speak, a cave with her kiln in it, constantly making new layers, just as nature does, without regard for the time they may take. Unperturbed by the failures in her spontaneous experiments, inevitable for those curious enough and willing to learn, she ‘travels’ through her matter, comparing each work with its source: ‘Even unrelated results have something to say.’ This exhibition is meant to encourage activity, observation, study and utilisation of the local treasures found in nature rather than being a mere display of finished works. It is a demonstration of a particular collaboration, a dialogue between man and nature. The many years of searching, collectingw and experimenting have reached the point of bursting – into communication. Each used material is precious. Many have found their place on the list of suitable glazing materials, such an important and complex means of transformation in ceramic work. This limited selection of available materials embodies years of processing and work. The artist’s opus summum is bound to expand for as long as she keeps working and be an incentive to all those who feel matter, speaking about life, death and renewal. Perhaps this is just the beginning.

Lidia Boševski završila je Školu primijenjene umjetnosti u Zagrebu. Diplomirala je na Tehnološkom fakultetu – studij Dizajna tekstila i odjeće. Početkom 90-ih usredotočena je na slikarstvo kombiniranim grafičkim tehnikama, kada ostvaruje niz samostalnih izložbi. Godine 2002. fokus širi na medij keramike.

Radovi i projekti Lidije inspirirani su prirodom, teksturama, strukturama i prirodnim oblicima. Otvaranjem ateljea Owl 2005. godine razvija nove kreativne pristupe umjetničkog izražaja i dizajna, kroz istraživanja i upotrebu prirodnih lokalnih materijala. Na tom području ostvaruje 10-tak samostalnih te sudjeluje na 40 grupnih izložbi keramike. Članica je HDLU-a, ULUPUH-a i HZSU-a. Lidia Boševski graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb and earned a degree from the Faculty of Textile Technology. In the early 1990s she started exploring painting by using various graphic techniques, followed by a number of solo exhibitions. In 2002, her interest turned to ceramics.

Lidia’s works and projects are inspired by nature, its textures, structures and shapes. After opening the Owl atelier in 2005, she has broadened her approach to art and design by studying and using local natural materials. Ten solo exhibitions and 40 group ceramics exhibitions testify to the major body of her output. She is a member of a number of national artists associations in Croatia.

2015 Materia, Galerija EContemporary, Trst, Italija / Gallery EContemporary, Trieste, Italy; 2014 Arteluce, Međunarodna izložba: Lidia Boševski, Sanja Sašo, Marco Zanuso i Maddalena Boero, Spazionat, Trst, Italija / International exhibition: Lidia Boševski, Sanja Sašo, Marco Zanuso and Maddalena Boero, Spazionat, Trieste, Italy; 2010 Ritam prirode / Rhythm of Nature, Botanički vrt, Zagreb, Hrvatska / Botanical garden, Zagreb, Croatia; 2006 Vali, Galerija Modulor, Zagreb, Hrvatska / Gallery Modulor, Zagreb, Croatia; 2005 Iz zemlje / From the Earth, Gliptoteka HAZU, Zagreb, Hrvatska / Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Glyptotheque, Zagreb, Croatia; 1992 Gallerie Daghoffer, izložba slika, Leoben, Austrija / painting exhibition, Leoben, Austria; 1991 Century Gallery, izložba slika, Henley on Thames, Engleska / painting exhibition, Henley on Thames, England; 1989 Kingfisher Gallery, izložba slika, Edinburg, Škotska / painting exhibition, Edinburgh, Scotland 2020 Art eco, Šuma / Art eco, Forest, Galerija ULUPUH, Zagreb / ULUPUH Gallery, Zagreb; Magični botanički vrtovi, Galerija ULUPUH, Zagreb / Magical Botanical Garden, ULUPUH Gallery, Zagreb; 2018 Mare modul, keramička staništa za podmorje, Tehnički muzej Nikola Tesla, Zagreb; galerija Juraj Klović, Rijeka; dvorac Frankopan Kraljevica, stalni postav pod morem / ceramic marine habitats, Nikola Tesla Technical Museum, Zagreb; Juraj Klović gallery, Rijeka; Frankopan Castle Kraljevica, permanent display under the sea; Art space Dao, Xian, izložba radova sa rezidencije stalni postav u FuLe International Art Museum, Fuping, Kina / Residency works, permanent display at the FuLe International Art Museum, Fuping, China; Homofaber, Best of Europe, Michelangelo fondacija, Venecija, Italija, Michelangelo Foundation, Venice, Italy; 18 Design District, Re-boot backstage of Progress, izložba dizajna, Zagreb, Design exhibition, Zagreb; 2017 52. Zagrebački salon / 52th Zagreb salon of Applied Arts and Design, Muzej Mimara, Zagreb Mimara Museum, Zagreb; 2016 Open to art Officine saffi, Milano, Italija / Officine saffi, Milano, Italy; Datoteka tekstura, Galerija Modulor, Zagreb / Texture Database, Modulor Gallery, Zagreb; 2013 Solid Acts, Dizajn iz Hrvatske, Tjedan dizajna, Temporary museum for new design, Milano, Italija / Design from Croatia, Design Week, Temporary museum for new design, Milano, Italy; 2010 45. Zagrebački salon ‘Market’ / 45th Zagreb Salon of Applied Arts and Design ‘Market’, Meštrovićev paviljon, Zagreb / Meštrović Pavillion, Zagreb; 2007 Handled with care, izložba dizajna, Designboom, London, Engleska / Design exhibition, Designboom, London, England; 2006 BIO, Bienale industrijskog dizajna, Ljubljana, Slovenija / The Biennial of Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia; THAW 2006, izložba dizajna, Edmonton, Canada / Design exhibition, Edmonton, Canada 2018 Mare modul, keramička staništa za podmorje, projekt u suradnji sa 9 keramičara i eko biolozima / ceramic marine habitats, project in collaboration with 9 ceramists, ecologists and biologists; 2017 More clay less plastic, organizacija internacionalne izložbe i hrvatskih keramičara u suradnji sa Lauren Moreira / international exhibition organization with Croatian ceramists and Lauren Moreira; 2016−2019 Sa glinom u prirodi / In Nature with Clay, serija radionica u prirodi, održavanih u Zagrebu, Italiji, Sloveniji, Portugalu / series of outdoor workshops, held in Zagreb, Italy, Slovenia and Portugal; 2016 Datoteka tekstura / Texture database, organizacija datoteke i grupne izložbe galerija Modulor, Zagreb / database group exhibition organization, Modulor gallery, Zagreb; 2015 Tatara porculan / Tatara porcelain, radionica s Mami Kato (Japan) / workshop with Mami Kato (Japan), atelier Owl, Zagreb; Earth pot, radionica s Mami Kato (Japan) / workshop with Mami Kato (Japan), atelier Owl, Zagreb 2018 FLICAM, umjetnička rezidencija u Fuping Pottery art village, FuLe International Art Museum, Fuping, Kina / artist residency in Fuping Pottery Art Village, FuLe International Art Museum, Fuping, China

Kad ulovim ritam, već kreće neki novi ritam i od dotadašnjeg ja više nemam koristi.

lidia boševski

When I catch a certain rhythm, there is already another and I have no more use for the familiar one.

Lidia Boševski MATERIA 13. – 26. 09. 2021. Tehnički muzej Nikola Tesla Zagreb / Technical Museum Nikola Tesla, Zagreb, Croatia

nakladnik / publisher ULUPUH, Hrvatska Udruga likovnih umjetnika primijenjenih umjetnosti / Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts, Preradovićeva 44, Zagreb

za nakladnika / for the publisher Ivana Bakal, predsjednica ULUPUH-a / ULUPUH President

urednica i autorica teksta / editor, written by Nika Pavlinek

fotografije / photography Boris Berc (7–11, 13, 17–57) Lea Boševski (12, 92) Lidia Boševski, privatna arhiva

dizajn i prijelom kataloga / catalog design and layout Hamper studio Ivana Vučić Tom Jura Kaćunić

dizajn i postav izložbe / exhibition design and set-up Zoran Boševski

prijevod / translation Martina Horvat

tisak / printed by Kerschoffset

Zagreb, Croatia, 2021.

isbn 978-953-327-204-7

cip zapis je dostupan u računalnome katalogu Nacionalne i sveučilišne knjižnice u Zagrebu pod brojem 001110300. / A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the National and University Library in Zagreb under 001110300.

Realizacija izložbe i kataloga omogućeni su sredstvima Gradskog ureda za kulturu Grada Zagreba i Ministarstva kulture i medija RH. / Exhibition and catalogue were financially supported by Zagreb City Office for Culture and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.

Posebne zahvale Nadi Benc Štuka na pomoći i zahvale svim prijateljima na sakupljenim materijalima. / Special thanks to Nada Benc Štuka for her help and thanks to all my friends for gathering materials.

kontakt / contact Lidia Boševski, Atelier Owl Vlaška 81a, Zagreb, Croatia (+385) 91 881 86 70 lidia.bosevski@gmail.com ceramic_and_nature

Ceramic and nature Lidia Boševski