A Ceramic Art Center With A Very Unique And Specific Tradition: Boleslawiec

When world's history of ceramic art is examined and analyzed, it's seen that today's understanding of ceramic art has been developed by nourishing from traditional ceramic art in terms of its aesthetic and technical aspects. As stated by Herbert Read, "ceramic is both the simplest and the hardest of the arts; it's the simplest because the most primitive, it's the hardest because the most abstract of all arts." Based on this understanding, the attitudes of traditional arts and artisans which forms the roots of modern and contemporary ceramic art is of great importance on the way of originalization.The development of ceramic education has been started in Poland in the academic sense by the graduation of children of local potters from academies and the process of being the ceramic art center of the region of this place has been started thanks to the support given to Boleslawiec traditional ceramic production by fine arts education. In line with the education given to academically trained new artists, these people made the Boleslawiec ceramic as the cultural heritage of Poland with its handmade traditional production made with unique clay, high quality technical specifications and  various types of decoration with the original and unique aesthetic value.Today, this production center that is world-known as Polish Pottery or Bunzlauer draws attention and becomes noteworthy with ceramic festivals, workshop tours, ceramic museums, exhibition halls and informative events describing the history of pottery held in recent years. Workshops, exhibitions, events and concerts have developed Boleslawiec into both traditional and contemporary ceramic art center by transforming into a traditional ritual.This study in which Boleslawiec ceramic art that is produced by use of stoneware clay which is the most qualified clay of the region and can be differentiated from its kinds with its different and unique decoration technique is examined and analyzed, emphasizes the importance of contribution of academic education to ensuring of continuity of traditional ceramic centers and formation and creation of high-quality production and manufacturing. Keywords: Traditional Ceramic Art, Polish Pottery, Boleslawiec, Academic Ceramic Education