October 19, 2008 – January 4, 2009
Deruta – Regional Museum of Ceramics
Every Sunday at 3.30pm, the Museum of Ceramics will offer guided thematic trails designed to provide the visitor with an overview of the scope and richness of Deruta ceramic traditions and the city historical heritage.
On November 23 a special tour will celebrate the patron saint of Deruta potters: Saint Catherine.
Already 
famous for his colorful glassworks, Silvio Vigliaturo has recently made his début in clay shaping with a solo exhibition at the Castellamonte Ceramic Festival.
His collection of large sized sculptures – up to 2.5 meters – had a highly emotional content.
As written by Vittorio Sacco in his presentation of the event, Vigliaturo has taken on him the task of developing a contemporary language for one of the oldest traditions in the history of the human civilization.
An objective to be proud of. The Italian ceramic artistic tradition, so rich and rooted in our heritage, badly needs to be revitalized and re-launched both in Italy and abroad.
All the pictures published in this article are kindly provided by the Museum of Contemporary Art “Silvio Vigliaturo”, in Acri – Calabria.
Sept. 6, 2008 – January 11, 2009
Gubbio, Italy
Alan
Caiger-Smith ranks among the most important British ceramicists of the past half-century, definitely the most important living artist specializing in lustre pottery. His work is known in a number of museums, in Europe, USA and Australia.
Gubbio is the home of the Italian lustreware thanks to the undisputed fame of Mastro Giorgio Andreoli, who settled here in 1498 and elaborated a lustre technique that was to become the Italian standard of excellence for Renaissance pottery and the times to come.
Gubbio and Alan Caiger-Smith’s paths crossed for the first time in 2005 when the British artist was invited to an international conference.
As reported by Ettore Sannipoli, the curator of the exhibition about to start, Caiger-Smith had a positive sharing of experiences with the local potters. Giampietro Rampini, one of the best Gubbio potters, invited him to his workshop and the two of them worked together on some lusterware techniques.
The exhibition “Gubbio honors Alan Caiger-Smith” will feature 25 works from his last kiln firing in 2006 and some 30 pieces representing his artistic evolution. Continue reading
Sept. 5 – Oct 5, 2008
Castellamonte – Italy
Welcome to the presentation of a highly fueled edition of Castellamonte Festival of Ceramics #48, a must for the lovers of Italian ceramics!
The event, organized by Vittorio Amedeo Sacco, will include an amazing number of exhibitions: more than 1000 art works by renowned Italian and International ceramic artists will be featured in the streets and historical buildings of this charming town, not far from Turin (Piemonte).
Before going through the rich Festival official program, let’s briefly have a look at the history of Castellamonte, where pottery making has been one of the most important resources for 6000 years.
In the past Castellamonte residents were simply called “pignaté” (pottery makers) by their neighbors since most of the functional pottery used in the region was made here. Continue reading
Sept 5th – 21st, 2008
Palazzo Venezia, Rome
Palazzo Venezia in 
Rome is about to open its doors to a usual and exciting event: an exhibition of experimental ceramic art and a ceramic workshop open to pottery lovers experienced potters and absolute beginners.
The event will complement the Agostino Tassi exhibition, currently on in the same building.
Tassi (1578 1644) was a very talented Italian painter, whose reputation was equally influenced by the beauty of his landscapes and seascapes and the rape of Artemisia Gentileschi.
Close-ups of Tassi’s works will be the subject of the workshop on majolica painting held by the School of Ceramic Art Romano Ranieri from Deruta. The participants will discover the secrets that make Italian ceramics famous worldwide. For the workshop details, please read below.
The exhibition of experimental ceramic art will feature the works of David Roberts, Nino Caruso, Nicola Boccini, Marino Ficola, Malgosia Turlo, Giuseppe Agamennone and Pierluigi Pompei, a group of artists belonging to the CLS – Ceramica Libera Sperimentale (Free Experimental Ceramics). Continue reading
July 4 – August 4, 2008
Spoleto – Italy
ADI – Industrial Design Association – has chosen a very intriguing subject to celebrate the opening of a new branch in Umbria: Food Design.
Important designers, a famous chef and a group of Deruta potters joined their creative skills to set up an exhibition that shows how simple and natural ingredients can be turned into creative, tasty food and how tasty food can be arranged into unique plates for a multi-sensory experience.
The key characters of the event are local food (km0) and Deruta ceramic plates, all created by the International School of Ceramic Art “Romano Ranieri” and hand painted by the School artists and other potters.
Deruta Mayor has recently launched a program to stop the spread of counterfeit ceramics, inexpensive industrial products mostly made in China or Eastern Europe and marked “Made in Deruta” or even “Handmade in Deruta”.
Let us take a step back for a moment and look at the bigger picture.
Deruta pottery is facing the worst economic downturn since the 19th century, due to a major slow down in orders from the US. Ceramics are Deruta key asset. Nowhere else in Italy there is such a concentration of pottery makers and so talented ones, too. A crisis in the pottery production cannot but involve the whole town.
June 21-29, 2008
Montelupo – Italy
Montelupo is a charming Medieval city built on a hill, a few miles east of Florence.
That was about it, until a team of archeologists discovered an old well full of kiln shards in 1973.
The unexpected discovery shed new light on the role of Montelupo in the history of Tuscan ceramics. It’s now a well-established fact that the town was one of the most important ceramic centers in Italy during the Renaissance and the production area of all the Florentine pottery.
The pride of such a splendid heritage revived the art of pottery making and had a positive impact on the local economic development.
Today Montelupo is a flourishing town, rich with historical buildings, talented potters and an awesome Museum of Ceramics.
To celebrate the glory of the past and today’s pottery art and craft an International Ceramic Festival is organized every year in the streets of the old historic district of Montelupo.
In a few weeks, from June 21st, performances, activities, art demos, exhibitions and young artists’ installations will definitely change the look of the town.
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.
If you are planning a trip to Italy, make sure to include in your itinerary a visit to the city of Montelupo and its new Museum of Ceramics. You will not regret it. It will offer you a charming glimpse of the beautiful countryside just east of Florence and the thrill of being confronted with one of the most important Tuscan ceramic collections in the world.
Montelupo… you may not be familiar with the name, but you certainly are with its ceramics, which are mostly known in the US as Tuscan ceramics, Florentine majolica, Florence pottery.
As a matter of fact, from the 15th to the 17th century Montelupo was one of the most important ceramic centres in Italy and all the functional and decorative pottery ordered in Florence was made there.
The role played by Montelupo pottery in the history of Italian ceramics was re-defined only a few years ago, thanks to the unexpected discovery of an old well full of kiln shards. This is the reason why the name of this quiet, charming village is not as well known as it deserves to be and why you should not miss a visit to its Museum!