TRADITIONAL WOODEN TOY IN SLOVAKIA

TRADITIONAL WOODEN TOY IN SLOVAKIA
A meeting of experts from the field of training and education of workers with the children and youth. The seminar (1 day) will be dedicated to the renaissance of a wooden toy, its influence on the development of creativity, imagination, intellectual, emotional and social skills. The toy is supposed to encourage curiosity, develop technical and logical thinking and promote motor skills of children from an early age. The toy is an important means of child upbringing, promoter of relationship to the tradition and natural materials (wood, textile, wire...) All of these will be the topics of the expert´s meetings. The seminar will fulfil an important educational role and at the same time it will be the presentation of the traditional toys from the collections of The Centre for Folk Art Production. The exhibition will be placed in the new restored spaces on the ground floor of the north wing and in the renaissance hall of the east wing. The target groups will be the general public - teachers of the kindergartens, elementary schools, designers, museum staff, psychologists, therapists, contemporary art carvers, but also the makers of the wooden toys and toy vendors. The target groups of the exhibition will be the general public, museum visitors with the main focus on a child visitor.

“WHEEL, WHEEL, YOU HAVE TURNED”
We present the traditional wooden toyin cooperation with the Centre for Folk Art Production (ÚĽUV) in Bratislava through the exhibition project “Wheel, wheel, you have turned”. “The motif of the wheel, circle and spinning is ubiquitous in traditional culture. We find it in ornaments, embroideries, the potter's wheel, basketry, tinkery, but also in folk dance or in the cycle of time, as cyclically repeating annual customs”, explained the curator of the exhibition Andrea Rolková. Toys from the collections of museums, art schools and manufacturers are represented at the exhibition - the Museum of Folk Art Production, Slovak National Museum – the Museum in Martin, Forestry and Woodworking Museum in Zvolen, School of Art Industry of J. Vydra in Bratislava, Private School of Art Industry Kremnica, Art Industry School Ružomberok, Zdeno Hogh, Ľubomír Kečkéš, Karol Krčmár, Jana Majerská, Andrea Rolková, Ondrej Pinka, Martin Šalgo and three industrial producers – Veva product, Moy Toy and Slončo. The exhibition brought together mindful people who enjoy craft making and have a responsible attitude to the environment, children's education and sustainable development. An ecological and immortal wooden toy teaches respect for lasting values. The exhibition project is implemented as part of a project financed by EEA Grants in the Culture Program under the title “HraMoKaPlus - Restoration of the Premises of the Baroque Mansion at Modrý Kameň Castle (Blue Stone) for the Traditions of Slovak Toy and Puppet Making in Craft Workshops, Production and Sale of Regional Products”. The exhibition will be open to the public from 21 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.

INTERAKTÍVNY SEMINÁR „TRADIČNÁ DREVENÁ HRAČKA NA SLOVENSKU“
On 20 October 2022 as part of the grant project HraMoKaPlus – Restoration of the Premises of the Baroque Mansionat Modrý Kameň Castle (Blue Stone) for the Traditions of Slovak Toy and Puppet Making in Craft Workshops, Production and Sale of Regional Products financed from EEA Grants in Slovakia and the state budget, the interactive seminar called “Traditional Wooden Toy in Slovakia” was held in cooperation with the Centre for Folk Art Production in Bratislava, as a project partner.Contemporary woodcarvers and manufacturers of wooden toys, experts in the field of upbringing and education, workers with children and youth, museum workers, teachers and students met at the Modrý Kameň (Blue Stone) Castle. The seminar was dedicated to the renaissance of the wooden toy, its influence on the development of creativity, imagination, intellectual and emotional abilities.

TRADIČNÁ KYJATICKÁ HRAČKA
Among the elements included in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of Slovakia, there is also a traditional Kyjatice toy. The master of folk art production for 2022, Ladislav Hedvigi, was responsible for promoting the almost forgotten production of Kyjatice toys using the original method. With his work, he tries to build on the work of master Rudolf Stehlík from Veľké Teriakovce, whose toys are also in the collections of our museum. Ladislav Hedvigi started producing Kyjatice toys in 2012 and he emphasises the preservation of the 150-year-old technological procedures. To make toys, he uses board material from oak wood, on which he designs the toy using templates. He then saws them from the woods, processes the surface and rubs it with a water-based mordant, most often of brown, blue and red colour. The toys are subsequently decorated with tracery carving and line carving - these are the procedures used by the old masters from Kyjatice. The ornament for the coloured surface is made with a special compass, which as he says: “... each craftsman makes on his own as it cannot be bought in a shop.” On 20 October 2022, students from the Basic Art School in Modrý Kameň tried it out as part of an introductory workshop led by Ladislav Hedvigi and got to know the basic technology of making a Kyjatice toy. The workshop was held on 20 October 2022 as part of the grant project HraMoKaPlus – Restoration of the Premises of the Baroque Mansionat Modrý Kameň Castle (Blue Stone) for the Traditions of Slovak Toy and Puppet Making in Craft Workshops, Production and Sale of Regional Products financed from EEA Grants in Slovakia. The project is co-financed from the state budget of the Slovak Republic.