June 1-15, 2008
Deruta – Italy

Art exhibitions, live performances, demonstrations and activities will be the ingredients of “The Magic of Ceramic Art”, a highly anticipated art & entertainment festival to be held in Deruta from June 1st.

Deruta potters, Italian and International artists, music players, scholars and visitors from all over the world will get together to celebrate the living heritage of one of the most important ceramic centers in the world.

The festival program is very exciting, indeed.

The 1st edition of Deruta Art: Biennale Exhibition of Contemporary Art will bring together 30 Umbrian and International artists, whose paintings, sculptures and visual artworks will be displayed in the former building of Maioliche Deruta, a factory which marked the revival of Deruta ceramics at the beginning of the 20th century.

At the same time the artists will face a special challenge: Artists at Work.
They will be special guests in Deruta ceramic studios where they express their creativity and artistic culture through pottery making. Each week, from Tuesdays to Saturdays, the festival visitors will be able to visit the pottery studios to check out the artists’ work in progress.

The ceramic pieces made by the Biennale artists will be the subject of an exhibition to be held at the end of August in a most fascinating spot: a XVIth century pottery factory situated downtown and named after its previous owners, the Grazia family.

For those who get easily tired of just watching and wish to leap into action, the Open Ceramic Lab provides the opportunity to be part of the magic. They can create a solid ceramic piece with the help and advice of experienced Deruta potters and bring it home when it’s fired. The Lab will be open Friday through Sunday.

The street performance Artists and Potters Under the Stars promises to be a very enjoyable event too. The charming streets of Deruta will become open air studios with demonstrations of ceramic making techniques and styles, such as decoration, firing, lustre and raku. Deruta wheel throwers will perform the magic of clay shaping and players of medieval music will join the party.

The Regional Museum of Ceramics will be open in the evening to host events and to welcome tireless pottery lovers.

The Magic of Ceramic Art aims to become a leading Art event in Italy and Deruta is certainly the right location for such an important event.
Nowhere else in our beautiful country there is such a concentration of talented crafters which can bring new ideas and skills to Art. That is … if one believes, as we very much do, that Art and Craft are not entities themselves but rather they are specific aspects of all creative work.

See you in Deruta, then.

FESTIVAL CALENDAR
June 1 – Sunday
11.00 – 19.00
Open Ceramic Lab – Piazza dei Consoli
21.30
Concert – Corale “Gerolamo Diruta” – Sala Sant’Antonio

June 2 – Monday
16.00
Arte Deruta: Biennale di Arte Contemporanea – Grand opening – Centro Espositivo Ex Maioliche

June 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
9.30
Artists at work – Botteghe Artigiane Ceramiche

June 4 – Wednesday
21.00
Lecture “Art versus Craft”
Prof. Giulio Busti – Art & Craft during the Renaissance
Prof. Gian Carlo Bojani – Art, Design and Craft today
Regional Museum of Ceramics

June 5 – Thursday
11.00
Artists meet the students of the Deruta Art Institute – Istituto Statale d’Arte “Alpinolo Magnini”
21.30
Theatre show – Piccola Compagnia dei Grandi – Piazza Cavour

June 6 – Friday
15.00 – 19.00
Open Ceramic Lab – Piazza dei Consoli
21.30
Artists meet Ceramic Art
Short films about the artists’ experience in the studios of Deruta potters
Regional Museum of Ceramics

June 7 – Saturday
11.00 – 19.00
Open Ceramic Lab – Piazza dei Consoli
21.00
Artists and Potters Under the Stars
Demonstrations of ceramic making steps and techniques: moulding, decoration, firing, lustre and raku
Street performances with Deruta wheel throwers and Medieval music
Piazza dei Consoli

June 8 – Sunday
11.00 – 19.00
Open Ceramic Lab – Piazza dei Consoli
21.30
Concert – Chiara Giudice, soprano and Carlo Segoloni, piano – Sala Sant’Antonio

June 9 – Monday
16.00
Arte Deruta: Biennale di Arte Contemporanea – Grand opening – Centro Espositivo Ex Maioliche

June 11 – Wednesday
21.00
Lecture & workshop: The Relaunch of Craft
Dott. Mario Giovanetti & Prof. Sergio Sacchi
Regional Museum of Ceramics

June 12 – Thursday
11.00
Artists meet the students of the Deruta Art Institute – Istituto Statale d’Arte “Alpinolo Magnini”
21.30
Theatre show – Piccola Compagnia dei Grandi – Piazza Cavour

June 13 – Friday
15.00 – 19.00
Open Ceramic Lab – Piazza dei Consoli
21.30
Artists meet Ceramic Art
Short films about the artists’ experience in the studios of Deruta potters
Regional Museum of Ceramics

June 14 – Saturday
11.00 – 19.00
Open Ceramic Lab – Piazza dei Consoli
21.00
Artists and Potters Under the Stars
Demontrations of ceramic making steps and techniques: moulding, decoration, firing, lustre and raku
Street performances with Deruta wheel throwers and Medieval music
Piazza dei Consoli

June 15 – Sunday
11.00 – 19.00
Open Ceramic Lab – Piazza dei Consoli

ARTISTS
June 1–8, 2008
Sestilio Burattini, Italia
Bruno Ceccobelli, Italia
Eraldo Chiucchiù, Italia
Renate Christin, Germania
Karin Drechsler-Ruhmann, Germania
Marino Ficola, Italia
Giuseppe Friscia, Italia
Birgit Lichtenegger, Austria
Graziano Marini, Italia
Paolo Massei, Italia
Valentin Oman, Austria
Bruno Paladin, Croazia
Romano Ranieri, Italia
Paul Russotto, Usa
Gabi Troester, Austria

June 8–15, 2008
Julia Aatz, Germania
Karen Bamonte, Usa
Sauro Cardinali, Italia
Silvano D’Orsi, Italia
Andrea De Carvalho, Brasile
Pamela Ivankovic, Croazia
Riccardo Murelli, Italia
Michael Oberlik, Austria
Kohei Ota, Giappone
Paolo Pasticci, Italia
Nicola Renzi, Italia
Virginia Ryan, Australia
Jack Sal, Usa
Franco Troiani, Italia
Etko Tutta, Slovenia

The Magic of Ceramic Art – Deruta
Tel: 199.151.123 (from Italy) from 10.00 to 18.00
infoline@sistemamuseo.it.