The city of Faenze, located in the Emilia- Romagna District in Northern Italy is known for its long standing tradition of Ceramic Arts. It is one of the most prominent centers for ceramic art within Europe.
Two representatives of the city’s remarkable endeavor in promoting ceramic arts are visiting the Benyamini Center- Masimo Isola, Deputy Mayor of Faenze Municipality and Matteo Zauli, Founder and Director of the Carlo Zauli Museum. The aim of the visit is to establish a relationship between the Israeli and Italian fields of ceramics through a residency program.
On the 3/6/19 at 16:00, Masimo Isola will speak at the Center and tell us the story of ceramics in Faenza.
At 17:00 Matt Nolan will do a masterclass including a demo on China painting.
About Masimo Isola
Isola is council member in charge for Culture, Education, Tourism and Ceramics. In 2013 he was appointed president of Ente Ceramica, an organization in charge of over than 40 ceramic workshops in the area of Faenze.
In addition to his position in the city council, Isola is committee member at Argilla Italia- the European Biennale for Ceramics and a meeting event for over than 20 international delegations. He is also president of the AICC- Italian Association of Italian Ceramics Cities, an umbrella organization for some 40 cities that continue to use and implement traditional techniques in ceramics. The organization promotes Italian Ceramics around the world and conducts the Annual Ceramics Festival in Italy. It’s main goal is to promote cultural exchange of traditional knowledge. To that end it implements Residency Programs and an Artists Exchange Program around cities in Italy.
In 2018 Isola was appointed president of European Ceramics Route (founded by the Council of Europe) which operates as a network between cities in Europe that promote ceramic industries and arts.
Objective
“Over the last years Faenze is leading the Italian and European Ceramics networks. We are working to enhance relations and debates between different ceramics cultures, by weaving together craftsmanship, industry and contemporary art. At the same time, we are working to link the local identities to international paths in order to create ceramics productions more mature and able to have a positive impact in nowadays economic and cultural system. We are working through this direction to encourage meetings among artists and artisans coming from different territorial contexts as representatives of different poetics and aesthetics After building strong relationships inside Europe, since years we have been successfully working in order to build stronger relationships with the Far East and Latin America. As admirers of the cultural and creative vitality of Tel Aviv, with the cultural project I would like to build a new bridge enabling our creative identities to meet each other”.
