Ceramics occupies one of the rooms of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The pieces convene with diverse expressions and a common theme.
There is a song to life in those who work with ceramics. Contact with the earth allows them to be close to our origins. Not only because of the material itself, but also because of the ancestors who left their traces on pieces that have been preserved over the centuries as a living testimony of a story without an end point.
In Medellín ceramic work has been strengthened. Some art students are even taking an interest in the technique and proposing novel mixtures, many of them encouraged by teachers who have marked out unique paths, out of the mold.
Now in the Palace of Fine Arts, in La Playa with Córdoba, there is an exhibition of 23 artists that has water as its theme. The history of this group (there are members who are not participating), made up of teachers such as Anita Rivas and Pablo Jaramillo, began in 2019, when María José González Rendón, also a teacher, called together potters from Antioquia and other cities in Colombia, as well as like some living abroad, to stimulate their work, hold exhibitions, motivate the public, collectors and buyers.
“We are artists, we express ourselves through ceramics, which is not a minor art”, says María José when she begins to recount the experience in which there is a clear message: “Ceramic work must be seen as art”.
Each ceramic is unique, in each piece is the essence of the artist. The traces of his hands remain, of his fingers, of the inner strength that he imprints on the form. “United we can make ourselves more visible, learn from each other, observe our processes, dialogue and confront each other. We team up with different expressions,” says María José, who has been in the trade with great passion for more than forty years and who has led several traveling exhibitions, such as this one and the one dedicated to the bowl, in 2019.
Now, each one presents a work, each one evidences their research processes, as in the proposal by María José with its vibrant blues, built by roll and carved. Or in Juliana Vélez Echeverri’s, in which water flows through a canal, a symbol of non-stop existence. Since 2008 she has been dedicated to working with clay, which “is like a meditation,” she says, while pointing out that her teacher has been the artist Rodrigo Callejas.
For the director of Palace of Fine Arts, the Art Historian Sara Fernández Gómez, this type of exhibition values ceramics. She points out that, at this time, the discussion between the artistic, the utilitarian and the decorative has taken a backseat. Now, she explains, in the institution that she directs they are debugging a project to create a School of Arts and Crafts. It should not be forgotten that, in this venue, ceramics occupied a privileged place, and this was remembered by María José, who has insisted that it once once more form part of the academic proposal.
Ceramic, which becomes a sculptural piece in the hands of many masters, is magnetized by the artist’s language. Each of the works in this exhibition entitled Apology for Water, fulfills an aesthetic function. Works modeled by hand, with various finishes. Each one tells a story, not only in the creative process, but also the unexpected speaks, because following baking in the oven, sometimes there are surprises that give new meanings. Ceramics is a very lively technique. The smell remains in the mud, the texture is felt.
There is passion, there is meditation, there is a hymn to life in this exhibition open until March 24, which will be presented in other rooms so that it reaches different audiences.