technique

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Lucia Angeloni – Stitching Past and Present

Italian Ceramics - Mediterraneità by Lucia AngeloniLast year strolling in the main street in Gubbio, Manuela and I were attracted by some contemporary ceramic works on display in the window of a gallery. We visited the gallery and asked some info about one of the artists, named Lucia Angeloni.

Actually, the name rang a bell, as well as the style. We gave the matter some thought and we remembered that a few years before Giampietro Rampini had shown us a very interesting Brocca dei Ceri made by Lucia. He had told us: “If you’re looking for some good ceramic art you girls  should meet her because she definitely is one of the best artists I know of and I can introduce you to her”. At the time we were still working hard on setting up thatsArte.com and we did not have any time for our personal collection.

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Della Robbia: Technical Innovation and Creative Genius

Italian Ceramics - Cappuccini Tondo by Luca della Robbia (1475-80), Bargello Museum, Florence - Photo Credits: www.scultura-italiana.comAccording to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), the famous biographer of Renaissance painters, sculptors and architects, Luca della Robbia’s technique was so revolutionary that he’d be praised for it for many centuries to come. He explained how it was not such a hard work to make a clay sculpture and the only reason why clay had not been used much so far was that it could not be preserved over time. Luca, after many experiments, managed to invent a special mixture of minerals. This glaze, used to coat the sculptures before the firing in a suitable kiln, would make them almost eternal.

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New Clays – Languages of the Young Italian Art Pottery

Dec. 19, 2008 – Jan. 30, 2009
Baronissi – Italy

An extraordinary exhibition Italian Ceramics - New Clays Exhibition in Baronissi (Salerno)has just been opened at the FRAC Baronissi – Regional Fund of Contemporary Art – that will feature the works of a new generation of artists who’ve chosen clay to express their Art.

Born in the Seventies and the Eighties, they represent what’s new in the technical and visual language of Italian ceramics. A unique initiative, indeed, since it builds on the differing Italian traditions – Deruta, Savona, Padova, Vietri, Faenza, Lucca, Urbino and Salerno among the others  – and techniques, which include a number of experiments with contemporary images and materials.

In his introduction to the event the director of the FRAC Baronissi says that the exhibition features a carefully selected sample of the languages and the practices used in modern Italian ceramic art. These languages preserve the lively cells of the valuable Italian heritage while participating in the contemporary art experiences and blending clay with other materials and creative processes. Italian pottery is therefore a language among other languages, all of them having in common imagination, creativity and a contemporary spirit.

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Traditions and Contaminations: Pottery Workshop in Urbania

January
Palazzo Ducale, Urbania

“Traditions and contaminations”Italian Ceramics - Urbania: Traditions and Contaminations is a multi sensory event that will combine the Art of Pottery Making, Food and Music in Urbania.

Better known among Italian pottery lovers as Casteldurante, the town was one of the most important production areas of the “istoriato” ceramics during the Renaissance, together with Gubbio, Pesaro and Urbino. The majolicas made in Casteldurante in the 16th century still are among the most treasured preys to pottery collectors’ and museums’.

The event challenges the technical and aesthetic tradition of the local potters and mix and matches it with creative stimuli originating from Japanese pottery techniques, food tasting and good music.

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