Kaya Ro

Year of birth: 1981.
Where do you live: Olsztyn, Poland.
Your education: Artistic Education in the field of visual arts at the University of Warmia and Masuria.
Describe your art in three words: My works balance between functional ceramics and art.
Your discipline: ceramics, sculpture.
Website | Instagram

Could you share how your journey as an artist began? What inspired you to pursue ceramics and sculpture?

Sculpture and work in clay—it was love at first touch. I studied art at the University of Warmia and Mazury. Previously, I took classes in painting and drawing, but in the field of sculpture, the offer of educational classes in my city was not available, and I learned sculpture only during my studies. Sculpture as a spatial form was something new and fascinating to me. It was extremely easy for me to work with clay, as if it wasn’t the first time I was doing it, but rather as if it was something I had always known how to do. It was a perfect combination of matter and idea from which a new creation was made. I could spend several hours in the studio. It calmed me down and relaxed me, but it also gave me such a great sense of fulfillment and freedom. My adventure with sculpture began during my studies, and with ceramics a few years later, when, as a young mother and teacher, I decided to create a place where I could create together with others. I loved ceramics for its usefulness, delicacy, decorativeness, and even for the fact that not everything always works out and there is a surprise waiting at the end.

Kaya Ro | #płytkasztuka II

Your works often balance between utility and art. How do you approach this duality in your creations?

I chose ceramics because somewhere along the way I became very critical of non-usable things or forms. When I was creating something, I asked myself, “Why am I doing it?” “What is it for?” And so I started creating functional ceramics and began teaching others how to create such ceramics. However, my love for sculpture is still there, because sculpture does not limit me and gives me more scope to express myself. When something is utilitarian, it also puts certain limits on the materials, glazes, and paints I can use. I can express myself creatively in sculpture; I can create with various materials, combining ceramics, metal, and stone. Although ceramics are the main core of my works and over the years of creating functional forms, the utility of sculpture is clearly visible.

What inspired the title of your latest solo exhibition, “#Płytka Sztuka”? How does it reflect the themes in your work?

The series of ceramic paintings #Płytkasztuka was created two years ago. (“Płytka” in Polish is understood as a thing and as a character trait, a feature of a thing.) Ceramic tiles, as a typically utilitarian element that is also intended to play a decorative role in the interior, have become a product valued per square meter. This deals with its superficiality and at the same time reduces the value of the work created by a graphic artist or designer, because it is made in repeated series. The objects presented at this exhibition are flat ceramic structures with a unique pattern, often with a banal inscription straight from the Internet. Sometimes it is a wordplay with a similar meaning or even one might say “shallowing.” The play of light, structures, and colors shows the world between what is useful and what is artistic. #Płytkasztuka (#ShallowTileArt) refers to the depth of images, the depth of words, and the depth of processing the world in a way that is useful to everyone.

Kaya Ro | Maska

Can you tell us about the techniques or materials you most enjoy using in your ceramic art?

I definitely focus more on form than color. My works are not particularly colorful, but in the #Płytkasztuka series, I focused on colorful clays. I like control, which is very difficult to achieve in ceramics. The glazes gain their color only after firing. Applying the glazes, we must imagine what it will look like after firing, because all the colors are gray and brown. Only in the oven at temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius do they gain juicy reds, oranges, purples, yellows, and blues. When I use colored clays—blue, green, red, etc.—I can control the final effect at the modeling stage. I control not only the shape but also the color, although as I said earlier, there is often a surprise waiting for me at the end. Sometimes I catch myself making some trivial mistakes. Out of haste, I do something that shouldn’t work, and I secretly hope that maybe it will work out this time. Unfortunately, along the way, it cracks, bends, the enamel melts or bubbles. Sometimes it turns out great, and I’m extremely happy with the experiment, but most often it ends with a big flop. I humbly start over again. In my work, I use the electric kiln firing technique, but I love outdoor firing using the Japanese raku technique. Here, the end result is surprising and exciting. We are dealing with real fire. It’s a real element.

Your art has received recognition in the form of awards like the “Talent of the Year.” How has it influenced your artistic career?

These types of awards always give you wings. As artists, we are constantly assessed by critics, but also by ordinary audiences. We face fear and concerns about whether it is really good, valuable, and whether the direction of our artistic path is right. When the artistic community and people of culture notice you, it helps a lot; it opens more doors. You start counting. You have more creative freedom and open your mind to new possibilities. You leave the frame that we, as artists, somehow put ourselves into and begin to explore the space of art with greater courage. It gives you the feeling that your work is worth something and makes sense. This is very encouraging.

Kaya Ro | #płytkasztuka IV

How do you see your work contributing to the art community in Warmia and Masuria?

I am a member of the Association of Artists of Warmia and Masuria, where we work with artists to develop the culture and art of my region. This makes me belong somewhere, and it places me very firmly in an artistic space where I can grow freely. After my last exhibitions, I received a lot of messages from friends and strangers that my art is valuable, that it comforts someone, that it gives them joy. I know my artistic community very well. I have been conducting cultural programs on local radio for years, and there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of these conversations about art. I think that when I entered salons and galleries with my art, people saw me as an artist, a sculptor, and not only as a culture journalist or an art teacher, because a large part of my professional life is also occupied by my work as a teacher. Being a creator is extremely difficult but at the same time it is an enjoyable task, especially when you are welcome with open arms.

Can you describe the significance of your educational and artistic projects? What role does art education play in your life?

Since 2014, I have been running an open ceramics studio, where I teach children and adults ceramic art and sculpture. This place is the fulfillment of my dreams, and being a teacher and instructor is my great passion. I like watching beginner ceramicists at work—it’s very inspiring. What’s more, their lack of experience means that they have no limitations in their minds or fears that something may break or crumble during the process. Sometimes they create things that shouldn’t work, but they do. It also gives me more courage in my own work. I also educate future instructors who will open their own studios and teach the next generations of ceramicists. Someone mean would say that I am competing with myself, but I don’t have that approach. A friend of mine once told me that if there were more artists in the world, there would be fewer wars. And I will stick to it.

Kaya Ro | ciałolubność II | 2024