Terra, Eleven Ceramic Artists from Hungary

Old City arts organization The Clay Studio exhibited the work of Terra, a ceramic artist group from Hungary. The exhibition featured the following artists who also participated in The Clay Studio's highly acclaimed 1992 exhibition Contemporary East European Ceramics: Marta Nagy, Zsuzsanna Fuzesi-Heierli, Lazslo Fekete, Sandor Molinar, Maria Geszler-Garzuly, Laszlo Szalai, Imre Scrammel, Gyorgy Kungl, Laszlo Horvath, Karoly Szekeres, and Gyorgy Fusz. Terra was founded in 1991, partially to fill the vacuum left by the downfall of the Socialist system and the Artists Union, which previously represented artist interests. The members of Terra joined together due to their common use of material and an aesthetic that promotes the highest standards of ceramic sculpture.

Hungary supports one of the world's strongest ceramic art movements and most of the best Hungarian clay artists are included in Terra. The exhibition promised to further the Studio's role in the international ceramics community and continue the legacy that in addition to Contemporary East European Ceramics includes Ceramics Israel in 1995 and Cerámica Puertorriqueña Hoy/Today in 1998.

Two of the group's members, Gygory Fusz and Marta Nagy, worked at the Studio last April while in residence in the Studio's international guest artist program, providing a preview of the excellent works we expected to see in the exhibition. Accompanying the exhibition was a residency by Laszio Fekete for the month of March 2000. Fekete was perhaps the most successful Hungarian ceramic artist in the US market with representation by Garth Clark Gallery in New York. The Terra show promised to stimulate and challenge much in the same vein that the East European exhibition did in 1992. It also provided an excellent update on the further artistic development of these talented artists, who continued to actively produce despite the difficult financial circumstances and sweeping social changes during this significant transitional period in their country's history.

The exhibition opened First Friday March 3, from 5-9pm. There was a special preview for Clay Studio members and invited guests Thursday March 2, from 6 - 8pm.