Artist's Statement

I believe that the greatest undertaking of the artist is that of professional maintenance. As a matter of fact, along with spontaneous creativity, you indissolubly must add an elevated professional competence regarding technique; through reading and observation, the joy of experimentation, of combining, and of moving forward.

My design is born from a rereading of past artistic production through a filter of formal personal sensibility directed towards the making of a functional or sculptural object. The forms generated are aesthetically accurate and display a strong sense of the real feminine character, of grace, of elegance and of attention to detail.
Thus, “Crespines”, objects originally of Faentinian tradition that were used in the grand European courts of the 16th and 17th centuries, have been remade in porcelain paper clay for a new collection which began in 2005. It was challenging and exciting to create forms derivative of the past, but reconsidered with completely new techniques and philosophies.

These pieces have been formed using an incredibly thin decorative weft that ultimately creates their supporting structure: it’s an art of addition, not of subtraction, as was commonly done in the original renaissance crespines, where the perforations were created by piercing and cutting out shapes from the existing closed forms. The procedure anticipates the moulding with a freehand syringe on concave or convex refractory supports and requires a high temperature firing. Sometimes the forms are then mounted on hand-blown glass bases, which have been designed and commissioned in Tuscany. The round shape is prevalent in my work, which can often be found in Italian Renaissance architecture

They present themselves in this way, like ample goblets in ceramic filigree, a type of interwoven lace of overlapping spirals in precious porcelain “thread” : objects of light and vulnerability, which live in illumination and shadow, in tactility, in supreme whiteness and imperceptible vibrations.
It’s a new way of interpreting this material, of which the confines no longer speak of “physical mass”, but instead of evocative transparencies.

I like working at decorative objects better because they have a role in a given space, they embellish and add to it, they establish a relationship, engage the user. For example the tea pots that are not functional at all. They are designed to evoke the smell of tea. Objects that stimulate emotions and memories, that act as catalysts for experiences and, in some way, encourage dreams.

Current work and Availability

Porcelain, light installations.

Work Available from:
Ab Ovo Gallery, via del Forno, 4. 06059 Todi (PG), Italy
tel/fax: +39 075 8945526. www.abovogallery.com email: info@abovogallery.com

Technical Information

Career and Education Background

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS - ONE AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2011 - 54th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennial, in the Italian Pavilion, for the Emilia Romagna region.
2011 - Workshop at the Gyeonggi International CeraMIX Biennale 2011, Korea.

2010 - “Light installations”, solo exhibition, Circolo “Torricelli”, Faenza, Italy.
2010 - “8 scultrici in fortezza”, Bastione San Gallo, Fano, Italy.
2010 - “CERAMICA - STORIA DI DONNE, Tradizione e attualità a Faenza”, MIC Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, in Faenza, Italy.
2010 - “Paperclay | TODAY Artist Symposium Invitation”, Laguna Beach, California, USA
2009 - “2009 Nanfeng Kiln International Ceramic Work Camp”, Foshan, Guangdong, China
2009 - “4° Bienal International De Ceramica “Ciudad de Talavera”, Talavera de la Reina, Spain, (catalogue).
2009 - “Cerco ‘09” , Feria Y premio International de Ceramica Contemporanea, Zaragoza, Spain, (catalogue).
2009 - “ I. International triennial of ceramics Unicum 2009", NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SLOVENIA, (catalogue).
2009 – “Festival of Contemporary art”, eventi collaterali, Atelier Cimatti, ospita Stefano Scheda, Faenza, Italy.

2008/2009 – “Trame di luce”, installazione, (One Person Exhibition), Atelier Cimatti, Faenza, Italy.
2008/2009 – “Biennale delle chiese laiche”, Massa Lombarda, Ravenna, Italy, (catalogue).
2008 – "Arte e Luce nella Ceramica di Deruta”, Fondazione Ceramica Contemporanea d’Autore Alviero Moretti, Deruta, Italy.
2008 – “Coree – Italie” Art contemporain : tableaux, céramique, Galleria Deburaux Aponem, Paris, (catalogue).
2008 – “Festival of Contemporary art”, Openstudio, Faenza, Italy , (catalogue).
2008 - “Antonella Cimatti porcellana e maiolica”, Associazione Suzuka, Palazzo Marchi, Imola, Italy (One Person Exhibition, Catalogue).
2008 - “Lilliput Ceramics” Worls Exhibition of Small & Miniature Ceramics, Cakavec & Opatija, Croatia.
2008 - “100E+ CERAMICHE PER IL PARADISO”, Gabbianelli, Cersaie, Bologna and Palazzo delle Stelline, Milan, and MIC (Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche), Faenza, Italy,(Catalogue).
2007 - “Universo bianco”, arranged by Matteo Zauli, Salone del Mobile, Galleria Bianconi, Milan, Italy, (Catalogue).
2007 - “The 4th World Ceramic Biennale 2007 Korea International Competition”, Yeoju World Ceramic Livingware Gallery, South Korea, (catalogue).

Awards

2011 - Honorable mention, 7th Cheongju International Craft Competition, South Korea.
2011 - First Prize ex-aequo, Seapot-teapot competition , Portugal.

2009 - Selected competition and exhibition - “4° Bienal International De Ceramica “Ciudad de Talavera”, Talavera de la Reina, Spain, (catalogue).
2009 - Selected competition and exhibition - “Cerco ‘09” , Feria Y premio International de Ceramica Contemporanea, Zaragoza, Spain, (catalogue).
2009 - Selected competition and exhibition – “ I. International triennial of ceramics Unicum 2009", NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SLOVENIA, (catalogue).

2008 - Selected for the Exhibition - “The 26th Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award”, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Australia, (catalogue).
2008 - Finalist, “28th International Ceramics Competition l'Alcora 2008”, Museu de Ceràmica de l’Alcora, Spain.
2008 - Finalist, “2008 Sidney Myer International Ceramic Award”, Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton VIC, Australia, in association with La Trobe University (Catalogue).
2007 - Finalist, "Concurso de Diseño y Nuevas Formas en Cerámica", LXXVII Exposición de Alfarería y Cerámica de La Rambla, Cordoba, Spain.
2007 - Silver Prize, “The 4th World Ceramic Biennale 2007 Korea International Competition”, Yeoju World Ceramic Livingware Gallery, South Korea, (catalogue).
2006 - Selected “Omaggio ad Albisola nella ceramica del ‘900”, 5° Rassegna Nazionale Albissola, Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea, Albissola Marina, Italy, (catalogue).
2005 - First Prize ex-aequo, “Sale in corpo”, Ente ceramica Faenza, Ravenna , Italy.
2004 - First Prize, “Il vaso officinale”, Collegno, Torino, Italy (Catalogue).
2003 - Gold medal, “Il piatto da tavola”, Faenza, Italy.

1994 - First Prize, “Un disegno per la tavola”, Montelupo Fiorentino (Firenze), Italy.
1992 - Third prize, “Steelite International European Design Awards 1992”, Stoke-on-Trent, England.
1989 - Selected, “Premio Murano”, 3rd edition, Venezia, Italy (Catalogue).
1985 - First Prize, “Oggetto d’uso e d’arredo per la casa”, XXV^ Concorso Internazionale Gualdo Tadino, Perugia, Italy ( Catalogue).
1981 - Prize town hall of Reggio Calabria, “2° Concorso Nazionale della Ceramica”, Reggio Calabria, Italy, (catalogue).

Public Collections

Campionario, Istituto Statale d’Arte “Gaetano Ballardini”, Faenza (Ravenna), Italy (1975).
Collezione Ceramica Contemporanea, Istituto Statale d’Arte “Frangipane”, Reggio Calabria, Italy (1981).
Laboratorio di “Giocare con L’arte”, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza - MIC, Faenza (Ravenna), Italy (1984).
Raccolta della Ceramica Contemporanea, Istituto Statale d’Arte “ F. A. Grue”, Castelli (Teramo), Italy (1986).
Archivio Industriale Bitossi, Montelupo Fiorentino (Firenze), Italy (1992).
Museum Ariana, Geneève, Switzerland.
Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza - MIC, Faenza (Ravenna), Italy (1989).
Centro di Documentazione della Piastrella di Ceramica Italiana, Assopiastrelle, Sassuolo (Modena), Italy (1995).

Museo della Ceramica, Raccolta Contemporanea, Castello di Spezzano di Fiorano, Fiorano Modenese (Modena), Italy (2000).
Museo Internazionale della Donna nell‘Arte, Scontrone (L‘Aquila), Italy (2002)
Giardino dell‘Arte, Istituto Statale d’Arte “Felice Faccio”, Castellamonte (Torino), Italy (2003).
Toki Municipal Institute of Ceramics, Toki-shi, Japan (2005-2008).
WOCEF collections, World Ceramic Exposition Foundation, South Korea (2007).

Placas de Artistas, Paseo Santa Lucìa, Nuevo Leòn, Messico (2008).
Coast City Art Gallery, Australia (2008).
Museu de Ceràmica de l’Alcora, Spain (2008).
Foshan Creative Industry Park, Foshan, China
Sèvres - Cité de la céramique, France (2011)