Budaörs Pensioners’ Club – The Turning of the Seasons, 2016

“The cycle of the seasons” unfolds on 4 wall pillars and the wall space above, placed in the communal area of the Budaörs Pensioners’ Club. The four seasons of the year are conjured in the work using a combination of porcelain relief and mosaic. These motifs are also mirrored back on 5 pieces of 25×25 porcelain relief in the inner courtyard.

We are very grateful of the SICIS glass mosaic manufacturor and there Sponsorship of this work.

The crown of each of the four trees’ foliage is surfaced with handprints pressed into the porcelain. These handprints with the changing seasons of the year represent the different periods of life (spring – kindergarten / summer – school / autumn – adult / winter – elderly, retired) as the different age groups pressed their hands into the material. In the spaces between the porcelain relief work, fitting in the mosaic pieces was done by all the different age groups. Through the making of the handprints and the mosaic a special connection with each Budaörs institute came into being in which the institutes delegated chosen members to participate.

Spring – Vackor Nursery, summer – Illyés Grammar School, autumn – the mayor’s office, winter – the pensioners’ club

All the age groups of the city from kindergarten children to pensioners made sure the work was unique.

It was essential that the theme for the pensioners’ age group should be both visually and verbally comprehensible and enjoyable, that residents would feel the creation was relevant to them. Because the retired group got the chance to work together for themselves in the workshop, they subsequently followed the process through to installation, and were able to communicate there in person with the creators.

The main goals of the project were:
– to create a point of visual focus in the building which would give members of the Pensioners’ Club the chance of a glimpse into the design process, and a chance to follow through the steps it took to realise that design
– the symbolic employment of a language of visual shapes clearly understandable to people using the building
– from nursery to pensioners, each age group having more involvement in creation
– the documentation of the project as it happened in local media created over several years an ever-growing forum for co-operation with Budaörs residents

The porcelain relief details (branches of the tree, fruit, leaves etc) were made by the teachers and students of the Illyés academy ceramics department. They were fired at the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, ensuring the high quality of the porcelain segments.