Missive – Maria Gezler Garzuly Printing on Clay Workshop, Kecskemet, October 2-8 2023
Maria Gezler Garzuly
Sharing and learning with mentor, Maria Gezler Garzuly is a powerful, would-nourishing experience.
I met Maria in May of 2018. I was participating in a Hungary/Canada symposium at Kecskemet Ceramics Institute on the theme of Muscle Memory facilitated and invited by Mimi Kokai. There were seven Canadians and seven Hungarians, and we were working very hard to get our exhibition pieces ready within the one-month time allotted. I noticed this tall, yet spritely elderly woman with a lovely blue apron working to glaze a number of large stone-like objects near the gas kilns. I was curious, but Maria was frantic, working with extreme focus and tenacity. Two days later, Maria came to me, and she asked me about myself, and she shared about herself, her life, her work, and her family. We found a natural connection through our mutual love for classical music. I had begun to explore photography on porcelain prior to meeting Maria. A few days later, Maria invited me to come and study with her in her workshop to learn about image transfer and screen-printing. Covid happened, and five and a half years later, October 2023, the universe opened a doorway — Maria’s invitational course aligned directly with the end of my residency at Cill Rialaig in Ireland. I knew it was meant to be. The week was a massive adrenaline shot to my professional development, and a gift that I am so grateful to have received.
Nine women came together under one roof and drank fully of the wisdom, knowledge and expertise of Maria. We began, unexpectedly for me, with printing on glass, and suddenly I was a multimedia ceramics/glass artist! We each chose an image and made our own 8” x 10” silk screens from scratch – stretching the fabric over the frames, and learning under Maria’s careful instruction the magic of emulsification, light and image transfer. Maria taught us that there is no limit to what we can achieve, except for our own imaginations. She also taught me not to rush forward, to be patient, to be precise and to honour accuracy while at the same time allow for spontaneity. The joy of watching Maria create a new work from a shattered set of shards is something I will never forget.
I chose to work with an Irish block print image that was reminiscent of the landscape that seeped into my soul in the south of Ireland. Others brought their existing screens, six of the students are repeat apprentices under Maria’s tutelage. Each shared their images, and the collective ingenuity of the group was also a great learning opportunity. My creative taps are bursting with ideas to explore when I return, many years-worth of inquiry in the studio await me.
We also spent several evenings sharing our creative journeys on the big screen over palinka (vodka-like plum schnapps that is a local specialty). Maria offered us an overview of Hungarian ceramic artists and her work, I shared my work with image on clay, others shared about their life and work, including administrator, Kitti Antel, and our last guest, the mentor starting a workshop the following week, David Binns from Wales, illuminated us with his impressive research, creation and “green” recycling industry glass/ceramic work.
I had two days at the end of the course, and the warmth and openness of the group did not let me down. A fellow student from Austria offered to drive me to Maria’s hometown of Szombathely, the oldest city in Hungary, settled by the Romans in the 2nd century. Five of us arrived in virtual tandem, and spent a rare and enraptured afternoon at the Szombathely Keptar, revelling in Maria’s solo retrospective exhibition, Drama in the Garden. Maria has donated the works to the museum, and this is to become a permanent exhibition – the culmination of a lifetime of love, passion, loss, pain, curiosity, joy, rendered through Maria’s lens and life experience. Words are not enough.
We were then treated by Maria to a visit in her home and her studio, stories of her family, of the war and of the Revolution. Maria’s generosity and hospitality is overwhelming.
I am honoured to have eight new friends and colleagues in clay, and to glimpse but a fraction of the genius of Maria Gezler Garzuly.
I would like to thank the Ontario Arts Council for supporting in part, my participation in the workshop with Maria Gezler Garzuly in Kecskement, Hungary.