Tomáš Mikolaj
Just as the fujara gave its stamp to the region of Podpoľanie, majolica – a specific type of twice-fired ceramics decorated on the glaze – characterises the area of western Slovakia. In the last century, it was probably made most famous by the town of Modra (Pezinok district), where the production cooperative Slovak Folk Majolica prospered. Michal Horník Jr, who was awarded the title of Master of Folk Art Production last year, grew up here. It was in Majolica – as locals call the above-mentioned cooperative – that both his parents met and also worked together as painters. Michal Horník, together with his brother, took his first steps in their workplace, both as a child and also as a future ceramics artist. After finishing his apprenticeship in 1983, the course of family life brought him to his employment in the Modra cooperative, where he met his lifelong love Viera, from the Slávik ceramics family from Častá (Pezinok district). He worked in Majolica until 2001 as a painter and then a designer, working on special orders for foreign customers. He then decided to pursue his own path. The beginnings were difficult. From being a specialised painter, he had to retrain as a universal ceramics artist. Thanks to the active help of his parents, in-laws and above all his wife, in managing his workshop, it eventually became a success. His figures modelled by hand became in time iconic for many people in the close surroundings and outside the borders of our country. If we add the traditional Habaner and Modra motifs and colour scale which he uses on his practical range to the impressive quantity of figures which his hands have shaped over the years, then his work takes on a folk dimension. A folk dimension which is all the stronger for the artist adapting his products with sensitivity to the requests of those whom they serve, thus extending the borders of tradition.