It was a great pleasure to eventually meet the two exchange artists from our partner organisation in Hungary: Ruziska Tunde and Eniko Kontor. They had responded quickly to our invitation and we were to find their enthusiasm and focus typical of the priority that they give to their work as artists. They are also charmingly friendly with a contagious bubbly sense of humour.
Tunde and Eniko met at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest – Department of Silicate Design (http://www.mie.hu/en). From where they graduated in 2010 with Designer in Silicate Art Master’s Degrees. Last year they set up a studio in Budapest with two other ceramic artists. This involved ‘renovations, insulations, concrete retaining wall that we rebuilt together because it is an earth-house, where there is a plaster room, kiln room, and a large open studio with a bright, small bathroom and kitchen and inside a beautifull garden:)’
The artist group’s website is: http://cerativegroup.blogspot.com/
Eniko is a sensitive thrower and hand builder in porcelain and white earthenware. Her work has an architectural quality that balances materials and forms with negative space, light with shadow. Recent work results in wall pieces, which explore the negative space of vessels. For these pieces Eniko has incorporated cement and plaster into her toolbox of materials expertise.
Tunde is an accomplished thrower, making simple bottle and bowl shapes that bear the subtle imprint of their creation. She displays these thrown pieces in still life groups, the combining of forms and negative space create harmonious compositions. Her hand-built, sculptural work takes a different direction, focussing on uncomfortable, balloon-like enclosed spaces that seem to want to burst. She calls them ‘Water Towers’. They are reminiscent of utilitarian plumbing components: tanks, pipes and valves. For Tunde they also explore human biological functions.
During Eniko and Tunde’s visit we worked on the building of our Wood Kiln in Sheffield. Both young artists worked hard, with purpose and accuracy. They were occasionally persuaded to break and made several lovely, small tea bowls for the kiln’s first test firing. They had a day out in York where they had an inspiring visit to the exhibition of Gordon Baldwin’s ‘Objects for a Landscape’ at York City Art Gallery (www.yorkartgallery.org.uk) and a day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where they found much to be admired in Miro’s musical paintings and where Tunde found her favourite – an Anthony Gormley sculpture.
The sun shone on Tunde and Eniko’s visit and our kiln-building week. When they left typical March weather resumed. They were much admired by our building team for their teamwork, accuracy and steady dedication to the project. We learned a lot from their visit. We referred often to their vital technical memories of the kiln building at Keschemet with Masakazu Kusakabi, and we are now exchanging glaze recipes over the email. Sarah and I hope to do a return visit this summer, which will involve a visit to their studios and a firing in the original kiln at Kecskemet. And so the partnership develops…….
Penny Withers
