Manuela and I visited the exhibition last week. We had already read the catalogue, so we thought we were more or less prepared for the works we were about to see.
Indeed, we were not.
Events
Lumen et Splendor
Sept. 4 – 26, 2010
Gubbio – Italy
The exhibition opening today in Gubbio will feature the work by Umbrian ceramic artists Lucia Angeloni (Gubbio) and Maurizio Tittarelli Rubboli (Gualdo Tadino).
Their pieces have been conceived as part of a large installation. Tin glazed pottery and luster glazed majolica will play with lights to show all their magic.
The two ceramic artists have very different styles but they share a fine craftsmanship and a distinctive use of the third firing. For this exhibition they will test their limits and experiment with new techniques, in the attempt to inject innovation into ceramic art and stimulate their fellow artists from Umbria to do the same, thus honouring the splendid tradition of this Italian region.
Zeus and Europa – European and Italian ceramics in Todi
Aug. 29 – Sept. 12, 2010
Todi – Italy
This year the Art Festival in Todi features an additional event: a small but very qualitative ceramic exhibition organized by the Ab Ovo Art Gallery and titled “Zeus and Europa”.
Features artists: Antonella Cimatti, Wanda Fiscina, Victor Greenaway, Kati Junger, Rebecca Maeder, Rita Miranda, Luca Schiavon, Roland Summer, Ane-Katrine Von Bulow, Christina Wiese.
Leonardo Persico, owner of the Art Gallery, explains why he picked up this unusual name: “the idea was to be in line with the theme of Todi Art Festival, Cupid and Psyche. So I tried to dig into my school reminiscences and I came up with another myth, perfect for a ceramic exhibition, Zeus and Europa”.
Italian ceramic artists at the European Ceramic Context 2010
Sept. 11 – Nov. 7, 2010
Bornholm, Denmark
Martha Eugenia Pachon, Mirco Denicolò and Alessandro Neretti will represent Italian art ceramic at the European Ceramic Context 2010 held at the Bornholm Art Museum in Bornholm, Denmark.
The event includes two wide-ranging exhibitions, one for the Established Artists, titled Ceramic Art, and one for the New Talent, presenting the work of 110 artists from 30 European countries.
A selection committee of 4 members will make the final selection and assign the prizes.
Evolution Art Revolution – a new frontier in Ceramic Art
Starting Sept. 2, 2010 in Paris, then on tour around the world until 2014
This event is meant to be an earthquake for (Italian) art and artistic ceramics, a powerful and meaningful attempt to change the course of its currently uneventful history – we’re open for discussion on this statement. Send in your comments!
We received the press release of the exhibition a few weeks ago from Nicola Boccini, founder of the CLS (Free Experimental Ceramics Association) and the creator of this extraordinary event. We grasped that something important was going on and we refused to publish it as is, meaning without first hand info and more clues on what the revolution was.
Yesterday we had a long talk with Nicola Boccini. Now we are definitely ready to tell you all about Evolution art /r/evolution.
The Rubboli Collection – Italian lustre pottery in Gualdo Tadino
July 17 – October 3, 2010
Gualdo Tadino – Italy
This important exhibition features 120 ceramic works, majolica and lusterware (tin glazed pottery), made by the Rubboli factory and by other important pottery factories, such as Ginori, Miliani, William de Morgan, Cantagalli, Galileo Chini, La Salamandra and Alan Caiger Smith, thus offering an excellent overview on the history and the tradition of lustres both in Italy and in the UK from 1870 to the last decades.
The works are displayed in the Monumental Church of San Francesco in Gualdo Tadino, home town of Paolo Rubboli, after a previous successful run in Perugia.
Additional pottery made by Paolo Rubboli (1838-1890) is on display at the Museo Civico Rocca Flea.
Your Christmas Travel Guide to Italian Pottery Events: Deruta
Iridescenze – Lusterware in the 20th century
Until December 31, 2009
The exhibition features luster pottery by Alpinolo Magnini, Ubaldo Grazia, Edgardo Abbozzo and their followers, some of them still active in Deruta.
Together with Angelo Micheletti and Francesco Briganti, Alpinolo Magnini was the artist who made the revival of ceramic art in Deruta possible and encouraged its first steps into modern age.
A skilled painter and an excellent ceramicist himself, he actively supported the work of his fellow artists and contributed to the education of a new generation of pottery makers as the first Director of the newly founded Museum of Ceramics and also as Director of the School of Ceramics.
Ubaldo Grazia adopted a different approach to the relaunch of Deruta pottery. He looked for inspiration at the Renaissance pottery that had made Deruta so famous in the 15th and 16th century and started from there. In 1921 he founded his own pottery factory, still one of the most important in town.
Your Christmas Travel Guide to Italian Pottery Events: Savona
Portrait and Figures – Victor Ferraj
Until December 13, 2009
Heads – from the past, from the future, from today… Viktor Ferraj chooses to look at the universe, its chaos and its mystery through the face of people.
His portraits, often reminiscent of classis sculpture, are in a continuous struggle with the informal background. Is it the birth from the chaos, or the chaos that perpetually forges the reality? The visitors can’t help wondering … still Ferraj’s people are not too bothered. They know better, maybe.
The sculptures remind the Greek and Roman classics. However the inevitable ebb and flowing of Time has broken them in many vital spots. The look eroded, used up. Still they live, they stare the visitors, sharing with him the knowledge that if everything changes, nothing gets lost.
Ferraj was born in Albania in 1965. He has been living and working in Italy since 1991.
Il Mulino Gallery
Corso Italia 37, Savona
Opening hours: Tue. to Sun. 4 pm – 7.30 pm
Ph: 0039 019 809074 – 0039 347 1666730
Email: galleriailmulino@gmail.com
Artist Wine Jugs for Nouveau Wine
The practice of releasing the nouveau wine in November – a huge marketing event – is commonly associated with France, where on the third Thursday of the month the Beaujolais Nouveau is first sold.
However, if you google “nouveau wine” you’ll find out that the development of “primeur” wines is a tradition in many other wine-producing countries.
In Italy St. Martin’s Day marks the beginning of the new wine tasting. Many festivals are held that celebrate the maturation of the year’s wine, under the spell of the old saying “A San Martino ogni mosto e’ vino”. Continue reading
Victoria & Albert Ceramics Galleries are open!
A major redevelopment of V&A Ceramics Galleries has been under way since 2005, with the ambitious objective to “create the most important national and international centre for the enjoyment, understanding and study of ceramics and a collection that is unrivalled anywhere in the world”, as reported by V&A’s website.
The galleries are located on the top floor of the museum, where a beautiful domed ceiling hosts an astounding site-specific installation made by the London-based ceramicist Edmund de Waal. Entitled ‘Signs and Wonders’, the art work consists of some 300 porcelain vessels on a ‘floating’ red shelf encircling the dome.