Authors: Alma Konfederak, Anna Kociszewska, Julia Maniura, Nikola Skopowska, Olga Świerc, Oliwia Andrzejewska, Sabina Kubica, Zofia Lazar
“Diversity” is the subject of an exhibition of photographic works prepared by third-grade students at the Art and Design School Complex in Tarnowskie Góry. This slogan combines various characters, techniques, and topics taken up by young women artists. Although each of them interpreted the theme of the exhibition differently, all their works combine in diversity.
Profiles and memories of people working for and in the surroundings of the Henckel von Donnersmarck family in Nakło Śląskie.
Exhibition date: 13 December 2020 – mid-February 2021 (the date depends on the situation of the cultural institution)
Organisers: the Silesian Culture Centre in Nakło Śląskie, Friends Society of Naklo
Honorary patronage: Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship Jakub Chełstowski, Governor of the Tarnowskie Góry County Krystyna Kosmala
The project was co-financed by the Self-Government of the Śląskie Voivodeship.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The palace servants and other employees of aristocratic families are usually not the subjects of historical research, which is a pity, because their stories can be very captivating and provide a lot of fascinating information about court life. Thanks to this exhibition, the modest knowledge of the functioning of the palace in Nakło Śląskie has been supplemented with a lot of valuable, sometimes anecdotal information. Moreover, the memory of the people and their sometimes sad or complicated fates during the Second World War or post-war period has been evoked. In view of the natural passing away of direct witnesses of these events, or their descendants, this is practically the last moment to preserve and record their memories, which are a great source of historical information.
The “Meeting after years” consists of 44 display boards with photographs and biographies, including a kind of “portrait” of pre-war Nakło. The exhibition is divided into 4 sections:
Nakło Śląskie – the most important institutions of pre-war Nakło: the church, the St Lazarus Institution, the fire brigade, the police
The palace – the characteristics of the palace, biographical notes of the palace servants
The estate and the household – overview, biographies of the employees
At cousins – overview of other manors, biographies.
In this form, the exhibition will be shown until mid-February 2021, after which much of it will become a permanent exhibition.
Introduction to the exhibition by Arkadiusza Kuzio-Podrucki , PhD
Introduction to the exhibition and behind-the-scenes material – Stanisław Zając, PhD, director of the Silesian Culture Centre
The organisers would like to express their heartfelt thanks to all of those who decided to cooperate, found the time and inclination to contact the Centre and share their knowledge, photos, and documents of their relatives or friends.
Originator and coordinator: Barbara Bereska
Cooperation and editing: Renata Głuszek
Historical consultation: Dr Arkadiusz Kuzio-Podrucki
Development of photographs and graphic design of display boards: Magdalena Zaton-Mikołajczak
Authors of photos: Krzysztof Miller, Marek Wesołowski
Partner: “Góry Kultury” Association
The project was co-financed by the Self-Government of the Śląskie Voivodeship.
The METAMORPHOSES project refers to the 100th anniversary of the Second Silesian Uprising, and its aim is to commemorate this event in a modern and unconventional way through photographs and collages with historical and contemporary motifs. The calendar, accompanied by the exhibition, is filled with photos of Silesians, including children. The figures are photographed against the background of contemporary architecture throughout Silesia. Additionally, the characters of the “calendar pages” in some symbolic way, e.g. through archival photographs or uniforms, refer to the Second Silesian Uprising. In this way, the project not only attempts to show the continuity and historical memory as well as the pride of Silesians from Silesia and the changes that our Region is constantly undergoing, but also shows that history can be talked about in a modern, unconventional, and visually attractive way.
METAMORPHOSES is the eighth installment of the project involving the publication of a calendar presenting values related to the region of Upper Silesia.
The exhibition was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Adam Jacek Kozak’s creative work, which fell in 2019. The paintings currently on display are only part of the past jubilee exhibition.
The works can be purchased: those interested in buying them are asked to contact Director Stanisław Zając: tel. 32 441 60 28 (secretary’s office).
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Adam Jacek Kozak – just last year, 2019, marked fifty years of our hero’s creative work. Painter, graphic artist, draughtsman – through all these years of changing eras, trends, and fashions, he was able to mark his individual and characteristic presence in the life of the region, the country, and Europe. A master of colour, who delights with his composition, harmony of colours and ambiguity of forms. The style of his works is sensual, ethereal, poetic, referring to tales, myths, and symbols of our civilisation. The forms in his works do not dominate, but create a cohesive relationship with colour and a delicate brushstroke. He is a peculiar director of his works, arranging forms which, when transposed, give an even greater impact on the viewer. A. J. Kozak paints in accordance with his creative ideology, not yielding to passing trends and fashions, and at the same time preserving the laws governing art. Throughout his entire creative path, he has been perfecting his workshop using various painting techniques. While creating, he thinks about the recipients, allowing them to “read” his works, giving them an impulse to activate new layers of their imagination. He has brought to perfection the perception of his world, full of both poetic sensitivity and artistic clarity and readability.
One cannot remain indifferent to Adam Jacek Kozak’s works. They delight with the richness of colours, variety in form, and – what is characteristic of this artist – they breathe freshness and great energy. A. J. Kozak’s works are appreciated not only by critics but also by other artists, for whom it is not easy to praise a fellow competitor. It is worth quoting Wiesław Ochman’s words – Impastos, delicate brushwork, precisely composed planes are his poetic language of painting, which means that despite the variety of forms, we are still dealing with the same, young at heart Kozak.
Looking at and reviewing the works and years of artistic work of A. J. Kozak we can boldly say that fashions and trends pass – Kozak will remain.
Grażyna Kasprowicz
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Jacek Kozak was born in 1943 in Kraków. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, Faculty of Graphics in Katowice in 1969. In 1970, he became a member of the Polish Association of Artists and Designers. Since graduating, he has lived and worked in Bytom. He devoted many of his works to Silesia. The artist’s works have been presented at individual exhibitions in Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia, Spain, and Canada. They are also in the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom and the Sports Museum in Warsaw.
During the 50 years of his artistic work, A. J. Kozak has been repeatedly awarded in national and international competitions and biennials, incl.
1975 – 2nd prize in the National Competition “Man”
1976 – Award of the International Olympic Committee for the exhibition “Art Show” in the Olympic Village in Montreal, Canada
1976 – 3rd prize in the Polish-Finnish Maritime Graphics Competition
1977 – 3rd prize at the International Graphic Biennale in Madrid
1977 – 2nd prize at the Polish National Competition J. Gielniak in Jelenia Góra
Date of the exhibition: October 20 – November 15, 2020
Organizer: Association of Polish Art Photographers, Silesian District
Authors: Ryszard Czernow, Jakub Gadek, Krzysztof Gołuch, Marcin Górski, Antoni Kreis, Katarzyna Łata, Arkadiusz Ławrywianiec, Beata Mendrek, Halina Morcinek, Zbigniew Sawicz, Bolesław Stachow, Timm Stutz, Barbara Szewczyk-Szelka, Janusz Wojcieszak
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition “Colorful image” is the second in the series of exhibitions “Awareness of the frame”. We showed the first one in 2019 entitled Body awareness.
I am convinced that a portrait is much more. The portrait is primarily an attempt to delve into the other person, their mood, character and emotional state at the time of taking the photo. Sometimes we are the other person ourselves, as in the self-portrait of Janusz Wojcieszak. I am convinced that regardless of whether we photograph someone or ourselves, a larger or smaller part of us is always included in the presented image. Fourteen authors, using a variety of techniques and formal procedures, show how strongly the portrait affects the recipient.
Full title: Half a century of emotions with the poetry of Kozak’s colors and forms
The exhibition is a form of celebration of the 50th anniversary of Adam Jacek Kozak’s creative work.
Painter, graphic artist, draftsman – through all these years of changing epochs, trends and fashions, he was able to mark his individual and characteristic presence in the life of the region, country and Europe. A color master who delights with composition, harmony of colors and ambiguity of forms. The style of his works is sensual, ethereal, poetic, referring to tales, myths and symbols of our civilization.
Date of the exhibition: May 6 – December 13, 2020.
The exhibition consists of 22 icons by Andrzej Kopka, created for his family and friends. This sacred exhibition is presented in a special place in the palace in Nakło Śląskie – in the former chapel of the Henckel von Donnersmarck family.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Andrzej Kopka (1962-2017) – a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Crakow,
Faculty of Graphic Arts in Katowice in 1990.
Since 1991 a member of the Association of Polish Artists
– district of Katowice. His speciality was designing
graphics, calendars, posters, billboards,
newspapers, books or occasional publications.
He took part in exhibitions and plein-airs.
Kopka art work is presented in national collections and abroad.
In 2013-2017 years Andrzej Kopka co-operated with the Centre of Silesian Culture.
Date of the exhibition: May 23 – July 12 , 2020
The exhibition is retrospective. The most important works of prof. Jacek Rykała from the last 20 years, but about 1/3 of the paintings are new paintings, including those presented for the first time at the exhibition in the Center.
The melancholy that permeates Rykała’s painting is occasioned by a disinherited person’s longing for what he/she has lost but also by a desire to find for melancholy an adequate form of expression, a form that would enable him/her to get closer to the past and find the future in it. For the present in which we live is always multidimensional and, according to Saint Augustine, means both “the present of things past, the present of things present, and the present of things to come.”2 Rykała, who undertakes a laborious task to record in his art the traces of the past and the crumbs of what passes, discovers the extraordinariness of banal, seemingly uninteresting places: gardens overgrown with weeds, poor working-class houses, neglected backyards, city alleys, murky gateways and cobblestoned streets. These are enclaves of the past from which life fled a long time ago yet they persistently continue to exist despite the passage of time and oblivion into which they have fallen. (…) Rykała’s painting should not be treated as documentary records of specific places but as an expression of delight over the magic emanating from neglected and sleazy city alleys of Zagłębie. This marvelous beauty is expressed through a luminous brightness that floods these places. But it can also be seen in such seemingly common objects as: shabby benches, fences full of holes, clothes lines with linen getting dry in the wind, rickety gates, beaten pavements, gardens covered in burdock, and cars whose makes take us back to the times of the People’s Republic of Poland. It can thus be seen in all those remains of the past which make the places we see for the first time look strangely familiar bringing back childhood memories and stories once heard or read.
Violetta Sajkiewicz, The shine of a black sun
Jacek Rykała graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, the Department of Graphic Arts, in 1976. He is a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice where he heads the Studio of Fine Art Painting.