Zauli. Explosive Ceramic innovator
There is a small town in Italy that is a Must for ceramic lovers. The city of Faenza has been Italy’s most famous ceramic center — so much so that “faience” earthenware is synonymous with painted, low fire ceramics around the world. On the eastern side of the Italian boot, it is only a three hour train ride away from Florence.
Now I am not sure if I should call this ride adventurous, comfortable, easy or breathtaking! Probably a bit of all. Certainly it’s off the beaten tracks.
The roadways have been built at the end of the 18th century crossing the back spine of Italy, the Apennine mountains, quite a monumental realization, with bridges and tunnels in carved stone . Today most travelers use the fast train via Bologna, but this small, two coach train trails off slowly on winding ways and does offer gorgeous views of little known, wilder mountain landscape.
Upon arrival in Faenza two fabulous museums and many ceramic studios are there to explore:
MIC – International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza – www.micfaenza.org
The Museum was founded in 1908, as a reference point for ancient, modern and contemporary ceramics in Italy and throughout the world. Here the opinion of Marta Matray:
“..they have an unbelievable collection of pre-Columbian
pots, roman and Greek pots, Asian pots, renaissance,
majolica, modern (Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, etc)
the best of European ceramics collection, winners of
their yearly international competitions since 1935!”
Museo Carlo Zauli – www.museozauli.it
For centuries Maiolica (majolica in English), was the sole medium of expression for local artisans. Until Carlo Zauli came along, an innovator with explosive influence. The museum offers an anthological itinerary of the ceramicist’s live and work of innovation and experimentation one of the most important ceramic sculptors of the twentieth-century, from the early 50’s to the 90’s.
The idea of appropriate or preferential media has hamstrung thinking about what constitute art today. Since the Renaissance, fine art expressions have traditionally been classified – until the 1960s, that is – as painting, sculpture and architecture. Painting, for the most part, was oil, tempera, watercolour and gouache. Sculpture was hewn of stone or wood, or fabricated or cast from various metals.
Much of the antagonism over the “art” and “craft” is about perception of value as it relates to both media and expressive intent. Perceptions of what constitutes art have dramatically changed over the years. One big problem is that contemporary artists do not universally share the definition of art and of beauty. In fact, many artists today often create objects disassociated from the concept of beauty. If there could be a short definitions probably it could be: Beauty is that pleases the senses and exalts the mind. And while it is true that pottery possesses sculptural attributes such as volume, depth, positive and negative space, shape and richness of surface, pottery is not, and can never be, sculpture.
To appreciate a work of art is not a particularly difficult undertaking but to discuss about visual art is difficult because artists use a plastic language to convey emotions and ideas. Artists use lines, shapes, colours, patterns, textures and images as their alphabet. This makes for profound difficulties in saying why there is such insightful meaning in these expressions.
In a pot, each visual element contribute a “particular” voice in the pottery expression. Each form, technique or material has with it associated meaning and emotional consequences. Round against square, smooth against rough, white clay against red clay. Porcelain , for example, speaks of purity, coolness, rarity and preciousness, while red earthenware clay suggests a more common earthiness, warmth and softness.
As we know the Renaissance started to differentiate between art and crafts expression. Works produced by a fine artists were seen as unique, never to be repeated or duplicated. By contrast pottery meant for practical purposes was produced on a communal basis in guilds, pottery villages or as familiar endeavours. The success of a pot was dependent upon the incorporation of many skill sets by many people who formed, decorated and fired the work. But this communal orientation (with little exceptions) helped to promote a schism between art and craft expressions. The lingering effects of this fundamental difference in the nature of “artist” and “craftsman” still exist when evaluating the aesthetic worth of pottery.
The values represented in the repeat work of historical folk pottery are not commonly encouraged in these institutions. Indeed, content is often emphasised at the expense of skill acquisition or utility. While it is crucial to exercise rigorous discipline in order to enhance one’s pottery skill level, it is not considered a particularly creative enterprise. But the acquisition of skill provides for expressive potential that can only be imagined by those without those abilities. Literally hundreds of pots must be made for the craftsman to acquire the skills necessary to reach a level where intuition may speak transparently.
The creative potter is not blindly repeating shapes, but exploring specific form types in a subtle and sophisticated fashion. Some imagine that potters make the same thing again and again but there are so many variables in the process of ceramics that it is impossible to create two objects with identical characteristics. The balance between the repetition required to produce forms that spring fresh from the hand and the repletion that drives the life from pots is a precarious one. Only truly creative artists resist succumbing to the deadening of the spirit. And this is the case whether one is an artist or a potter.
The repetitive ritual of producing multiple aesthetic forms based upon an idea as simple as a “bowl” lends its own voice to the potter’s work. Repeat work contributes its own cadence and insight. By being attuned to the subtle variations and minute changes that arise when working, with clay, slips, glazes and the kiln day after day, the potter reaches for secrets normally hidden in that first tantalising experience with clay.
This workshop will celebrate the beauty and magic of light as it accentuates color, expands form and energizes surfaces in translucent porcelain.
