Artist: Antonella Cimatti

Antonella Cimatti, ITALY
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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.
Women, in particular, haven’t truly renounced their femininity or their conceptions of life, but express it in a sophisticated synthesis, a balance of forms and integrated language in their work.

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.

In the installations, life and existence are given to the shadows. The butterflies which are created on the wall are born of a combination of one porcelain wing and the other which is created only virtually by it’s own shadow. In this way, the expressive and metamorphic world of the shadows are so evident.
One part of the work is real while the other is temporary because the shadows are ephemeral and elusive.


EDUCATION
1979 - Academy of Fine Arts, Bologna, Italy
Diploma of Fine Arts
1975 - Italian National Institute of Ceramic Art, Faenza, Italy
Diploma of “Magistero”, Thesis with Carlo Zauli.
1973 - Italian National Institute of Ceramic Art, Faenza, Italy
Diploma of “Maestro d’Arte per la Ceramica”

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
1979 - Present: Professor of Ceramic Design, Liceo Artistico, Faenza Italy.
1995/Artist Fellowship Exchange, European Communities, Belgium.
1991/Artist Fellowship Exchange, European Communities, England.
1984/Workshop Giocare con l’Arte/ Children’s ceramics studio founded by Bruno Munari, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza, MIC, Faenza, Italy, (Catalogue).
1981/Art of Ceramic Sculpture, Summer Course for Japanese Ceramists/ Italian National Institute of Ceramic Art, Faenza, Italy.

DESIGNER EXPERIENCE
1985 to 2000: as a designer in “Hollywood Collection” , Flavia Manifatture Ceramiche Artistiche, Gruppo Bitossi, Montelupo Fiorentino, Firenze


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS - One and two person exhibition

2015- Scultura ceramica contemporanea in Italia, Gnam, Galleria d’arte Moderna, Roma, Italy
2014 - 4th Biennial Shanghai International Contemporary Porcelain, Shanghai Museum of Arts and Craft, Shanghai, China
2014 -Selected at the Exhibition – competition Ceramics of Europe – 13th Westerwaldprize 2014. KERAMIKMUSEUM WESTERWALD, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany:
2014 -Selected at the Exhibition – competition " 4th International Triennial of Silicate Arts, International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemét, Hungary
2014 -workshop Paperclay with porcelain, La Meridiana, Tuscany, Italy
2014 - Exhibition Latin, featuring modern ceramics from "Latin" Europe and Latin American countries, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gallery 2, Gifu, Japan .
2013 – Exhibition and Workshop at International ceramic art festival in Sasama, Japan.
2013 - Exhibition and Workshop at Faculty of Art and Design - Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Prague, Czech Republic.
2013 - Artist in residence in Fuping FULE, preparing an installation for the Museum. China
2012-2013 – Vaselle d’autore, arranged by Nino Caruso, Torgiano,Perugia, Italy (catalogue)
2012 - workshop paperclay in Vallauris Art Institute, Vallauris, Francia
2012 - The IV International Festival of Postmodern Ceramics, City Museum in Varazdin, Croazia
2012 - Cerco 2012 , Feria Y premio International de Ceramica Contemporanea, Zaragoza, Spain, (catalogue).
2012 - The 4rd Taiwan Gold Teapot Prize exhibition at Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan.
2012 - MunGyeong Chasabal (tea bowl) festival 2012, exhibition and workshop MunGyeong, South Korea (catalogue).
2012 - International Contemporary ceramic art exhibition 2012, Jingdezhen festival 2012, China (catalogue).
2012 – 4X4, Vernice Art Fair, Forlì, Italy
2012 -Ceramics Now Exhibition, The Paintbrush Factory, Cluj-Napoca, and Budapest, Romania (catalogue).
2012 - 54th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennial, in the Italian Pavilion, Turin, Italy (catalogue).
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”, in Laguna Beach, California.
2009 - “2010 Second International Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary Teapot Art”, Shanghai, China.
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).
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 – “Argillà Italia”, Faenza, Italy.
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 - “100E+ CERAMICHE PER IL PARADISO”, Gabbianelli, Cersaie, Bologna and Palazzo delle Stelline, Milan, and MIC (Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche), Faenza, Italy,(Catalogue).
2008 - “Presepi”, Museo Internazionale Design Ceramico, Cerro, Laveno Mombello, 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
2014 -First prize at Sixth International Small Teapot Competition, Pomona, California
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).