In my next series of journal entries I will be posting a record of all the blue and white glaze tests completed in the summer of 2025 while working with my studio assistant Abtahi Hassan. Abtahi received an Undergraduate Research Award, a University of Manitoba program that allows students to work side-by-side with a professor of their choice in an assistant/ mentorship situation from May through August. Abtahi and I worked together everyday in the ceramics studio at the School of Art experimenting and discovering techniques and glazes inspired by Anabaptist ceramics, also known as Habanware.

Two more stops to see Habaner sites in Slovakia in August 2025: 1. One of the major production sites for Anabaptist/Haban ceramics was Sobotište, located in western Slovakia. We went to visit the Habansky Dvor in Sobotište, and also checked out the museum (Múzeum Habánov Sobotište).
2. Moravský Svätý Ján is a village and municipality in Senica District, in the Trnava Region of western Slovakia. We went to Moravský Svätý Ján to see the last remaining original Haban house in the village, and we were also treated to a surprise encounter with the resident church bell ringer. The information panel sitting next to the church reads: “Present day Habáner living in the United States and Canada are called Mennonites or Amish.”

August 23, 2025 Leaving from our temporary home hub in Veľké Leváre we travelled to Modra, Slovakia, a major site for Anabaptist/Haban and Slovak/Haban ceramics. Modra is significant for the production of Anabaptist/Haban ceramics historically and is working to keep the tradition alive through its museums and a studio facility that teaches maiolica techniques, using patterns amassed by Moravian painter, potter, and amateur archaeologist Heřman Landsfeld.

In Bratislava we visited the Bratislava Regional Craft Center of the Centre for Folk Art Production (ÚĽUV), which aims to safeguard and develop traditional crafts and folk art production in Slovakia. It is located in a historical building in the centre of Bratislava and contains a gallery space, a gift and book shop, studio, and presentation space. ÚĽUV is working to keep the tradition of Anabaptist/Haban ceramics alive.

We couldn’t believe our auspicious find of a restored Haban house turned into an Airbnb in Veľké Leváre, embedded within a former Habansky Dvor (courtyard). Staying in the very heart of the Habansky Dvor situated in western Slovakia brought a closeness and level of connection to the Anabaptist/Haban research we couldn’t have imagined.

August 19, 2025 Next stop on the SSHRC funded research tour was Brno, Czech Republic. The tour began with a pivotal visit to the Ethnographic Institute of the Moravian Museum, housed in the Palace of Noble Ladies.

I travelled from Winnipeg to Prague on August 10, 2025, the first of my SSHRC funded research trips to central Europe in search of collections of Anabaptist/Haban ceramics, sites of production, and to make connections with experts in the field.