Izlake–Zagorje Art Colony

Contact

Slikarska kolonija Izlake–Zagorje

Cesta 9. avgusta 1, SI-1410 Zagorje ob Savi

http://www.skiz.si/

info@kulturnidom-zagorje.si

Phone386 (0) 3 566 4171, 386 (0) 41 489 305

Founded byMunicipality of Zagorje ob Savi

Organised byKulturno društvo – Slikarska kolonija Izlake–Zagorje ob Savi

LocationDelavski dom Zagorje

The Izlake–Zagorje Art Colony was established in 1964 and enjoys a cult status as the oldest and most hospitable painting colony in Slovenia. The colony has been gathering local and international artists in the industrial environment of the former mining town who are able to work there for 10 days and asked to leave one work for the rich Izlake–Zagorje Art Colony art collection. The participating painters are selected by the colony's board which organises also the workshop and the travelling exhibitions of the works from the collection accompanied with the catalogue. At the occasion of the 40th anniversary it published a monograph book with a survey by Milček Komelj.

In 2008, during the EU "Year of Intercultural Dialogue" the colony hosted more international participants coming from the newly acceded EU countries (for example, Sean Kane from Slovakia, Masszi Ferenc from Hungary, Einar Vene from Estonia, Augustinas Žygimantas from Lithuania). In 2010 the colony hosted 12 artists and opened up to the younger generation as well as to the visual arts mediums beyond painting.

Collection

The collection contains almost 1000 artworks and enables a unique insight into over 55 years of artistic endeavours since socialistic times. The highlights have been presented in the bilingual almanac published for the colony's 20th anniversary. Under the initiative of the Kranj-based Gallery of the Recipients of the Prešeren Award a travelling exhibition was prepared with the works by Zvest Apollonio, Avgust Černigoj, Herman Gvardjančič, Zdenko Huzjan, Stane Jarm, Zmago Jeraj, Metka Krašovec, Tomaž Kržišnik, Lojze Logar, Miha Maleš, Maksim Sedej, Jože Slak, Jože Tisnikar, Vinko Tušek, and others.

Exhibitions

The works from the collection have been shown in Zagorje near Sava, Trbovlje, Novo mesto, Beltinci, Ljubljana, Kranj. A special attention was dedicated to the 21 participants of the colony who were also the recipients of the Prešeren Award. In 2008 the exhibition of their works was prepared for the Prešeren Award Recipients Gallery (Galerija Prešernovih nagrajencev) in Kranj, the following year shown also in Zagorje near Sava and in 2010 in Kemnath (Germany) and in 2011 Bleiburg (Austria). The exhibitions travelled also to Italy, Hungary and Brussels, where they held an exhibition in the European Parliament in 2013.

Background

The colony was initiated by Tone Leskovšek, local painter and teacher and backed up by a group of artists (Ivo Seljak - Čopič, Ive Šubic, Zoran Didek) as well as the Ljubljana Fine Artists Society. From 1965 till 2005 Nande Razboršek presided over the colony's board, now succeeded by Eleonora Kramar and painter Nikolaj Beer as artistic director. The board's secretary is Bojan Čokl, also a painter.

See also

• Municipality of Zagorje ob Savi

External links

• Izlake–Zagorje Art Colony website (in Slovenian)
• Bilingual catalogue of the Prešeren Award Recipients works from the Izlake–Zagorje Art Colony collection (link to pdf file below)