2025 03 06 – 04 06
At Ceramic Art Pavilion (Respublikos str. 3)
Artists: Romualdas Aleliūnas, Algimantas Kazlauskas, Jonas Arčikauskas, Kęstutis Musteikis, Egidijus Radvenskas (Lithuania), Aris Seglinš (Latvia), Makoto Hatori (Japan), Rimas VisGirda (USA), Kieran Behan (Ireland), Hans Meeuwsen (Netherlands).
The roots of Panevėžys International Ceramic Symposiums reach the eighties of the 20th century. Ceramic seminars for local artists started at the Panevėžys Glass Factory in 1983. One of the instigators of these events was Alvydas Pakarklis, a ceramist, who was able to foresee and realize the potential of the ceramic facility at the factory. He undertook a number of technical experiments with the approval of the factory management and with special support by former director Stasys Stoškus. The potential of the kiln due to the available temperature (1380 deg. C.) and interior dimensions (height: 1.8 m., floor space: 12 sq. m., and volume: 20 cu. m.) was ideal for executing monumental outdoor ceramic sculpture. Since that time the Glass factory has hosted groups of artists to use its materials and technical equipment during the month of July.
In 1989 foreign artists were invited for the first time and the event was labeled a symposium. In 1990 the Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery undertook responsibility for the planning and organization of the symposiums in co-operation with the Glass factory (later AB “Panevėžio Stiklas”), and from 2006 with the ceramics company UAB “Midenė”. The symposiums have become an annual international event whose reputation keeps growing. Gallery former director Jolanta Lebednykienė was organizer of Ceramic Symposiums from 1990 to 2016.
Panevėžys International Ceramic Symposiums have hosted 178 artists from 37 countries: Australia, Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, South Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the USA.
The invited artists were offered to create not only pieces for interior but outdoor sculpture as well. On the recommendation of art critics, the selection committee strives to invite original and unique artists from all over the world. Because it is possible to execute pieces that would be difficult in a conventional studio, the number of applicants usually exceeds the number that can be accommodated.
The Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery houses more almost 700 pieces of chamotte ceramics, which were created during the annual ceramics symposiums. This unique and only collection of its kind in Baltic States reflects not only local and transient trends in contemporary ceramics, but also a ceramic commonality through ideas, visual peculiarities, features, and developments of form.
