Matres Naturantis
Now in its fourth edition, finally in attendance after the two-year pandemic, the Matres International Festival of Ceramics for Women was held last August 25-28 between the two cities of ancient ceramic tradition, Cava de' Tirreni and Vietri sul Mare. For four days, the two cities talked and experienced [...]
The way of clay
Pottery with its four elements: air, water, earth, and fire, the essence of life itself, has always been a material shaped by women because of that close connection to the value of care, the foundation of society, of which they are the creators. The special characteristics of the ceramic material, which from its origins lent themselves well to the preservation, processing and [...]
Natura naturantis
It is "Natura naturantis" the epicenter toward which the Matres 2022 festival has turned its gaze Many philosophers from Giordano Bruno to Spinoza have placed it at the center of their thought as a constant "generating activity in the becoming of its perfection." But we know that contemporary Man undaunted continues to disturb the balance of this Common Abode of his [...]
Sahara Ceramics at Matres Festival 2022
That in the heart of the Algerian Sahara desert there existed a well-equipped and functioning ceramic workshop and, even more uniquely, that it was run by a cooperative of women potters is a discovery that has the unbelievable. That this story then connected to a distant and concluded part of my past for me also has [...]
Between architecture design and ceramics
HOTEL PARK OF THE PRINCIPLES "Blue sky, blue sea, blue islands, blue majolica, green plants, roses at the feet of the princess, dancer's footprint" (Gio Ponti) "We must measure ourselves against the past, the present, the future and utopias." Gio Ponti "... I always think about the infinite possibilities of art: give one a twenty-by-twenty square and [...]
Symbola Collaborative work
Images from the Matres Havana Festival The experience of the Matres Havana Festival, which brought a large international representation of the APS Pandora women ceramic artists to Cuba, along with an equally large representation of the Korean Korea Women Ceramic Association KWCA, from April 20-30, 2023, has recently concluded. Hailing from places thousands of miles apart, the [...]
Creating with the soul
Since 2012, ceramist Debora Ciolli and Dr. Rita Vatteroni have collaborated in the realization of Creative Ceramics Courses "Creating with the Soul" and Natur Sphaera meetings with people with oncological problems, their family members/caregivers and health care personnel, supported from time to time by the "Sempre Donna" Association of Piombino-Cecina, the Livorno Foundation, the S.CU. D.O [...]
Iran without veils
When Iranian artist Dorna Abyak lands for the first time at Naples airport to participate in an exhibition organized by the Pandora association at the Museo della Ceramica I am there ready to welcome her. I expect to meet a woman wearing the Islamic veil as well as from the passport photo sent to us for accreditation to the event and as of [...]
Ceramica Ability
We all know that ceramic art is a unique tool to help people rediscover their creative and autonomy potential to deal with the difficulties of transformation, evolution and development of an individual's growth. The mostly self-funded Pandora Ability project, activated in 2015, is directed at the psychological and physical well-being of people [...]
The substance of the form
In a world pervaded by images and connections that continually flow and pass through us, emptied in content like disposable voids, the substance of the form progressively vanishes as does the identity of the person who is annihilated in the virtuality of a parallel "existence".Never more so than today, where the sense of disorientation and lack of identity is increasingly manifest, [...]
Happiness in a box Elisabeth Minichbauer
I am Elisabeth, a ceramic art teacher and designer of ceramic materials; I live and work in Stockerau, Austria. My workshop together with a small store is located in my home.Since childhood I loved working with my hands, sewing, painting and making things. Later, in the professional sphere, I absolutely wanted to continue on this path and reserve [...]
