If autumn, winter and spring are when the art life of Latvian cities, especially the capital, is bubbling, then summer is the season when people are keen to get out of the walls, visit their hometowns, meet friends and colleagues closer to nature.

When it is summer in Latvia, artists can be found in creative residences, plein-airs and symposia outside the epicentre of the capital. Symposia are a popular international practice in the ceramic environment, allowing for mutual exchange of experience and professional development. This summer, too, so many places are on the map that it would be impossible to name them all, but one of them should be highlighted: Saldus.

This year, in the first half of July, in cooperation with the Latvian Ceramics Association and Saldus Art School and thanks to the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation and Kurzeme Planning Region, Saldus hosted the symposium “KUR”, which brought together eleven professional ceramists, designers, artists and art educators from Latvia and Estonia.

This is now the second year that the “KUR” symposium is being held in Saldus; this year it has been dedicated to porcelain. Poured and molded porcelain mass, paper and 3D print porcelain: in the course of ten days, the artists had the opportunity to work with this material in the usual techniques, as well as to try out new ones, exchange experience and tricks of the trade with their colleagues. 

Saldus residents and guests can enjoy the works created during the symposium at the exhibition until mid-August, while Riga residents have this opportunity from August 18 to October 15, when the artworks by all participants shall be exhibited at the symposium “KUR” exhibition at the Riga Porcelain Museum in Riga. The exhibition is hosted in the museum’s workshop space. It is the first time that an exhibition dedicated to the process of contemporary porcelain art is to be held there. The creative atmosphere shall perhaps encourage someone to try their hand at porcelain making or painting.

The artworks on display at the exhibition were created during the symposium by Diāna Boitmane, Ieva Jurka, Lauri Kilusk (EE), Jānis Leimanis, Elvīra Mahte, Kristīne Ozola, Joonas Parve (EE), Rūdis Pētersons, Esmeralda Purvišķe, Agnese Sunepa and Baiba Šēna.

In the photo: “Bird Song for Death”. Author Diāna Boitmane. 2023. Photo by Agnese Sunepa.