ARCHBOLD — Archbold potters Mark and Joyce Nafziger of Brush Creek Pottery — located at Sauder Village — recently returned from Budapest, Hungary, where they represented the United States as guests of honor at Hungary’s 40th annual Festival of Folk Arts alongside 16 other American artists.
American artisans and performers were invited to the festival by Hungary to honor the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence and to showcase how tradition and innovation shape the enduring cultural ties between the two nations.
During the four-day festival, held Aug. 20-23, Mark and Joyce engaged with many of the estimated 100,000 attendees and collaborated with Hungarian craftspeople.
Their booth showcased examples of their pottery, and the couple gave demonstrations of their techniques throughout the festival.
The Nafzigers agreed that pairing the United States, celebrating its 250th year, with the much older nation of Hungary created an interesting juxtaposition between their work and traditional Hungarian ceramic art. Mark was surprised to see that his own pottery had an unconscious Hungarian influence.
“Here in the U.S., we draw from all these other cultures around the world and all these different times and places, and it gets melded and incorporated into our work,” Mark said.
“It’s not conscious, but there are influences from everywhere. I could see a connection between my designs and patterns and what we were seeing in the booths there.”
Mark explained that festival attendees and Hungarian artisans seemed to connect with their pottery, allowing them to find common ground despite the language barrier.
“The pottery bridges that gap between the cultures,” he said. “I think that’s what it’s all about: bridging those cultural gaps and people finding connections on both sides.”
Mark and Joyce expressed gratitude for the opportunity, leaving with an increased appreciation for Hungarian culture and the way art can be a universal connection point.
“We want to go back,” Joyce said. “Budapest is such a beautiful city, and the Hungarian people were so welcoming too.”
Brush Creek Pottery’s invitation to participate in the Festival of Folk Arts came less than two years after the Nafzigers took part in the Arts Envoy program, a cultural exchange program within the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that connects U.S. artists with international audiences.
Mark and Joyce visited Bhaktapur, Nepal, as part of that program in 2024. The participation of U.S. artists in the Festival of Folk Arts was supported in part by the same program.
Mark Nafziger established Brush Creek Pottery in 1981. Joyce, who retired as an art educator in 2022, has since become more involved in the studio, carving and decorating some of the pottery.
The studio is located within Sauder Village at 22611 State Route 2, Archbold.
