Art Exchange Bulgarian Sculptor Shares Experiences With Whitworth Students

Every time Bojidar Bontchev, a ceramic artist from Bulgaria, touches clay, he visits another world. It’s his way of coping with his country’s shaky present state and unknown future.

“I don’t believe in the (seriousness of art),” says the soft-spoken and unassuming man, an artist in residence at Whitworth College. “Some artists look at the black side of life. They take the ugly things and the things that provocate your mind to think about the serious things.

“There is a lot of things like this in Bulgaria. There is a lot of ugly things. I just want to go somewhere. I don’t want to think about this.”

If you think surviving as an artist in America sounds daunting, try doing it in Bulgaria.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the dawning of capitalism, many of the country’s artists have traded in their paints, pencils or clay for business suits. Because most people are far too poor to afford art, there’s virtually no market for it. Further, the government no longer has the funds it once had under communism to support the arts.

“People aren’t interested in art,” says the 39-year-old artist, who is well-known in Bulgaria. “Most people are interested in how to make money.”

Still, for Bontchev, pursuing his love - ceramics - is a rewarding struggle.

He is visiting the United States on a residency grant he received from ArtsLink, a public/private partnership of numerous arts organizations nationwide. He’s been living and working at Whitworth College for the last month and will spend another 10 days here before heading home.

While at Whitworth, Bontchev, an art professor in Sofia, has been sculpting a couple of pieces in the belly of the fine arts building.

As he works, he lets students peer over his shoulder. Plus, he assists them in their work, shows slides of his art and relates his experiences being a professional artist abroad.

“We exchange ideas and we exchange experiences,” he says.

“Exchange” is the whole idea of this program. Bontchev is one of 51 artists and arts managers from Eastern and Central Europe who received ArtsLink grants so they could come and work for a brief period in this country.

“He’s mostly giving a different perspective to the students,” says Whitworth art professor Gordon Wilson. “They’re able to see him working.”

Even after Bontchev bids farewell to Spokane, he will continue to touch the Whitworth community as he will leave the two untitled pieces he’s been working on behind.

Whitworth students and faculty aren’t the only beneficiaries.

Since Bontchev arrived in the United States in March, he’s visited various art exhibits in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, where he’s gotten the chance to become acquainted with artists and gallery owners.

Back home, he teaches full time at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. The rest of his free time is consumed by creating new pieces.

Bontchev constructs magnificent, ornately painted and decorated ceramic towers, which sometimes reach heights in excess of five feet. They sell for $2,000 to $5,000.

In his work, he maintains a high degree of architecture. Actually, when Bontchev was a child, he planned on pursuing architecture.

“Before, when I was a child, I used to think about this idea to be architect,” he recalls. “Sometimes I feel like an architect. I build houses … skyscrapers.”

If he could ever afford to build his own house, Bontchev, who shares a small home in Sofia with his mother and grandmother, would likely model it after one of his pieces.

His work is playful and imaginative. It’s also interactive. Several of his pieces have interchangeable parts. Some even have drawers that can be pulled out.

Every piece is extremely fragile, and they usually require two or three weeks to complete. Yet, Bontchev invites the curious to touch his work. Doing this at any ordinary exhibit would get most people thrown out.

“I don’t believe in this concept for art. There’s lots of barriers around the work,” says Bontchev. “I want my piece to be touched.”

“He doesn’t want it just to be on a pedestal away from people,” says Whitworth art professor Barbara Filo. “He wants them to come up and be close and really look. He really wants that interaction.”

None of Bontchev’s work, however, is suggestive of Bulgaria’s arduous struggle to achieve political and financial stability.

“When I make them, I just want to be somewhere,” he says.

Bontchev, in turn, hopes his art accomplishes the same thing for his people. Though his work, he wants to boost their morale.

“I want to have a nice country, a nice place, nice people, nice objects,” he says. “I want to have nice (surroundings). People want to have these things everywhere. They want to feel good and have a nice view.

“We don’t have a nice view sometimes.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo