Beholding Troyan Ceramics Essays on traditional ceramics & contemporary sculpture Abstract The object of the present research in the field of arts is about interpretation and re-integration of the traditional ceramics in the art of contemporary ceramic sculpture. Its subject and starting point is the tableware ceramics of Bulgaria, known as the Troyan ceramics. Through a combination of practical and theoretical work, the study aims to demonstrate that the ornamental techniques of the Troyan ceramics as device, are an ideal means for creating sculpture with an original, distinct, and universal sound, capable to add new aesthetic expression in the range of the current practice of ceramics. By preserving and expanding the original troyan characteristics it explores the interaction between the traditional ceramic and re-shape its system in the context of contemporary sculpture. The essence of this approach lies in the re-examination of the controlled - slip technology characteristic to the Troyan ceramic style and the possibility to be applied for the purpose of fine arts. The interest and fascination of this method is provoked by two main features of this particular style. The first is the ingenuity of the technological method own to the Troyan ceramics. The second is the authentic ornamental system of the Troyan ceramics which have evolved in the course of the long practice of utility and refinement. In result of this inquiry, the artistic research pursues to reshape the Troyan ceramics in the context of contemporary ceramic sculpture. Its purpose is to enable the continuity of preservation of the established tradition and through interchange with the art of sculpture to evoke new interpretation, both: within the Troyan ceramic crafts and in the domain of contemporary ceramics. The synthesis of this endeavor is yet another fulfillment or reconciliation of the traditional with contemporary ceramics. It therefore serves as a source of inspiration and provides most favorable conditions for interaction and innovation of traditional ceramics on the one hand, and contemporary ceramic sculpture on the other.

MAD-Research PXL-MAD School of Arts, Hasselt