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<\/span><\/div>About<\/h2>\n
The Re:tradition \u2013 Jagiellonian Fair festival will take place in Lublin this coming weekend (August 21-23). Once again, the Old Town will welcome masters and mistresses of traditional crafts and folk art, for whom tradition is a major source of inspiration. During this year\u2019s celebration of traditional culture, around 130 craftspeople from Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and even India will present their work. Nearly 40 of them continue traditions inscribed on national lists of intangible cultural heritage.<\/strong><\/p>\n The people we invite continue many diverse traditions rooted in the heritage of rural communities. These include ceramics, painting, wickerwork, ritual and decorative art, jewellery, blacksmithing, sculpture, instrument making, weaving, and woodworking. Since childhood is the main theme of this year\u2019s Festival, we want to pay particular attention to the craftspeople who make toys. Let\u2019s get to know them and their work.<\/p>\n The work of Bogumi\u0142a Le\u015bniak, Piotr Mentel, and Danuta Sa\u0142aciak can be found not only at their festival stalls, but also on an artistic installation \u2013 a paj\u0105k<\/a> \u2013 traditional chandelier-like decorative mobile<\/strong> that will appear at Krakowska Gate for the duration of our event.<\/p>\n Bogumi\u0142a Le\u015bniak (POL)<\/strong> is a sculptor. The tradition of folk art in her family goes back several generations. Her grandmother made wooden dolls, while her mother worked at the Sp\u00f3\u0142dzielnia Rzemie\u015blnicza in Sucha Beskidzka. As she herself explains:<\/p>\n In 1984, after getting married and moving to Stryszawa, my adventure with Stryszawa birds began. My father-in-law Emil Le\u015bniak, his brother Edward, and my mother-in-law Genowefa carved and painted Stryszawa birds. I learned from them how to make these small sculptures: chopping wooden blocks, carving them with a knife, preparing them on wires, painting them, and creating compositions known as \u201cfamilies\u201d on branches or small boards.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That is why, alongside sacred and secular sculptures and bas-reliefs, the artist\u2019s stall will also feature colourful wooden birds inspired by traditional local patterns and, at times, by the natural colouring of different bird species.<\/p>\n The multigenerational tradition of making toys and Stryszawa birds is also continued by Piotr Mentel (POL)<\/strong>. The emergence of the now-famous Stryszawa birds can be traced back to Teofil Mentel (1876-1944), one of Mr Mentel\u2019s ancestors. His grandparents, Stefania (1923-2005) and Julian (1923-1995), as well as his parents, Antonina (1958) and Tadeusz (1955-2005), also contributed to Piotr acquiring, from an early age, the skills needed to make wooden toys inspired by local traditions. Today, just as his ancestors once did, he makes colourful birds, horses and carriages, merry-go-rounds, klepoki, and nativity scenes. His children, Natalia, Zuzia, and Mi\u0142osz, also join him in his work and at fairs.<\/p>\n Danuta Sa\u0142aciak (POL)<\/strong> is another artist from Stryszawa who continues the toy-making traditions popular in the region. From an early age, she learned from her grandparents and parents, who passed their skills on to her, and at the age of 20 she began carving independently. Today, her two children help her with her work. Ms Sa\u0142aciak carves the shape of a toy from pine or lime wood using a knife and then paints it by hand. She inherited the patterns she uses from her parents, while developing some of them herself, inspired by nature. Her stall will feature a variety of bird sculptures \u2013 large and small, perched on wires and bushes, or sitting in nests.<\/p>\n Wies\u0142awa and Marian \u0141oboz (POL)<\/strong> also make toys rooted in the traditions of the Beskid \u017bywiecki region. Pewel Wielka, where they come from, is one of the region\u2019s important toy-making centres. Mr \u0141oboz learned the craft at his family home, Ms \u0141oboz acquired these skills from his parents, and over time their sons joined them as well. As Mr \u0141oboz says:<\/p>\n My grandfather, father, mother, and older brother made folk toys alongside running the farm. I did the lighter work \u2013 whatever I was able to do. The older I got, the more independent my work became. After many years, I can say that they were my masters.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n At the artists\u2019 stall, you will find horses on wheels and rocking horses, klepoki birds, ladder wagons and carriages, merry-go-rounds, animal figures, pipes and whistles, as well as their most distinctive creations, which they came up with themselves \u2013 winged horses, or pegasi.<\/p>\n Ryszard Marciniec (POL)<\/strong> makes traditional wooden toys. He comes from Brz\u00f3za Stadnicka in the Podkarpackie region, which was once a well-known toy-making centre. As he himself explains:<\/p>\n As a young boy, I helped my father, Stanis\u0142aw, in his workshop. I would sit and watch, hand him tools, and later I started making toys myself. At the age of 14, with my own hands but under my father\u2019s watchful eye, I made a car, a box truck. Today, some of the patterns I make are things I inherited from my father, while I came up with others myself.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Mr Marciniec mainly works with old, traditional patterns, which is why his stall at the Jagiellonian Fair will feature, among other things, klepoki, pecking hens, horses, pop guns, and wheelbarrows.<\/p>\n One artist who creates toys and non-toys and draws inspiration from tradition in his work is Piotr Rogali\u0144ski (POL)<\/strong>. For 30 years, he has worked at the intersection of theatre, music, and visual art. He creates \u201csculpture-toys\u201d and props for carolling performances. Drawing on old patterns, he also makes decorations and sets for concerts and performances. He creates his work by hand, mainly in wood, leaving the material raw or colouring it with earth or wax. His sculptures are inspired by old patterns borrowed from other artists or found in archival materials.<\/p>\n Mr Rogali\u0144ski is also working on a sculptural project entitled \u201cNon-toys\u201d, in which he seeks to give folk toys new meaning by placing them in new contexts. The aim is for them to become a living and contemporary means of artistic expression, allowing the potential hidden in folk toys to be used in dialogue with the present day and to address important issues affecting adults. In addition to sculptures and props, he also makes accessories for drummers, such as sticks, wires, triangles-stalks, and brass rattles.<\/p>\n During the Festival, alongside visiting Mr Rogali\u0144ski\u2019s stall, we also invite you to the exhibition \u201cNon-toys, tree of life\u201d, where the artist presents his work. The exhibition is open at the Gardzienice Gallery (Grodzka 5a) on Friday from 13.00-19.00, and on Saturday and Sunday from 11.00-19.00.<\/p>\nColourful wooden birds<\/h2>\n
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Diverse toy-making centres in Poland<\/h2>\n
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Non-toys<\/h2>\n