Aukštaitis, palikęs pėdsaką Žemaičių žemėje: keramikas ir pedagogas Pranas Brazdžius

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Bechino keramikos mokykla; Brazdžiai; Brazdžiai, Pranas Brazdžius, mokytojas, profesionalioji lietuvių keramika, Viekšniai, menininkas; Pranas Brazdžius; Profesionalioji lietuvių keramika; Viekšniai; Brazdžiai, Pranas Brazdžius, teacher, professional Lithuanian ceramic, Viekšniai, artist; Brazdžius family; Ceramics school in Bechin; Pranas Brazdžius; Profesional Lithuanian ceramics; Viekšniai.

ENPranas Brazdžius (Lopiniai, Subačius rural district, 1895 - Akmenė, 1980) is considered one of the fathers of professional ceramics in Lithuania. In 1912-18 he studied at the Mirgorod School of Art and Industry in Ukraine, and having returned to Lithuania, worked as a teacher in Kalvarija and Marijampolė. Probably the most productive period of Brazdžius's activity as an artist and teacher is related with his work at the Viekšniai secondary school (1922-27). In the region famous for its pottery traditions, Brazdžius organized a circle of ceramics for pupils, held exhibitions each year, and trained quite many artists who subsequently became famous. From 1925 he led the annual courses of drawing, modelling, and handwork, and organized by the Teachers' Professional Union, where teachers of Lithuanian schools improved their professional skills. Himself having improved his skills in Czechoslovakia (Bechin), Brazdžius was appointed as a teacher in the Mažeikiai gymnasium, founded a ceramics school in Mažeikiai, and in 1931 became the head of the newly established ceramics studio of the Kaunas Art School. He greatly contributed to building the material basis of this studio, compiled a systematic teaching programme for ceramics, and was the first in Lithuania to introduce the reduction firing technique. When L. Stroits took over as the head of the studio in 1934, Brazdžius continued to work as a technologist until 1940. Having left his work at the Kaunas Art School, he went to live on his farm in Akmenė. The occupations of the country made a painful impact on the artist's fate.Because of the military actions of 1944, a larger part of his work perished, and in 1945 Brazdžius was arrested and deported to Siberia, where he suffered about a year and a half of hard labour in Kemerovo coalmines. Later he was cleared as innocent and was able to return to Lithuania, where he worked at the Akmenė secondary school for almost two decades. He was no longer actively engaged in creative work, but worked with his pupils and led a circle of ceramics. Due to unfavourable historical circumstances (repressions and disappearance of his creative heritage), Brazdžius did not receive adequate acclaim for a long time and remained in the shadow of the "great" artists. It is only in the recent years that his contribution to the history of Lithuanian ceramics has received more interest. [From the publication]