„A szövőszéktől Krosnoig”. Válogatás a II. Krosnoi Nemzetközi Textilművészeti Biennálé anyagából (Zalaegerszeg, 2003)

Recorded in linen Hospitable Krosno, and more precisely its Museum of Handicraft, once more organised the International Biennial Exhibition of Linen Artistic Tapestry. The first Biennial exhibition held in the summer of 2000 won general applause and renown, especially that the display from "native" Krosno had a yearly tour around in other Polish towns and abroad. These numerous presentations have probably contributed to the promotion of the event, its idea and the inspiring role of linen fibre in contemporary art activities. They have broadened the knowledge of the organisers about the artists who value linen as a material and eagerly use it in their work and also inspired many artists for searching their own solutions using this ancient material. A thing of importance were the unusual dimensions of the works of art, specified in the regulations of the exhibition within the range between 25 cm and 60 cm in all three dimensions (length, width and height), which places the items between classical miniature and a full-dimension large composition. The concept stems from previous experiences of the Biennial Exhibition of Small Woven Forms organised in Jelenia Góra by Ewa PoradowskaWerszler, a well known authoress of tapestries and an enthusiast of fibre art. The popularity of the first Biennial brought about almost doubling the number of the artists invited to participate in this year's exhibition. The artists taking part in it come from not only the Carpathian Euroregion, i.e. from Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia but also from other areas. In total 96 artists from 17 countries are the participants of the Biennial. The largest group is from Poland, the second biggest from Ukraine and smaller groups of a few from Denmark, Germany and Italy, the remaining countries being represented by one person or two. An increasing interest in the exhibition speaks well about the attractiveness of the event of this kind. It is also a kind of tribute to flax, the fibre about which Olga Lukowska, a participant of the Biennial, says that "linen thread, as the nature itself, is alive and eternal". The thread played an important role as early as in the art of ancient Egypt. First known tapestries were made of linen fibre. They come from the Totmes IV's grave of 15

th century BC. Some discovered pieces of linen fabric covered in paintings are also connected with artistic work of that period. Growing flax in Europe dates back to rather distant times, as it was known as early as in the 4

th century BC. Contemporary art visions fixed in the linen material have got their excellent predecessors, though it is difficult to talk about any particular patterns apart from the idea of creating works of art from the material, frequently in the classical way using weaving techniques but also hi