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‘Earth, Music & Poetry’, 5th International Symposium of Art Ceramics, Camaguey, Cuba.
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I was lucky enough to spend 3 weeks last December in Cuba. Don’t be too envious though, it happened to be unseasonably wet for about 10 days! During the summer I was sent an email about the event and last July I sent off my application. I was delighted when I received an email at the end of August inviting me to take part. I applied to Culture Ireland for my airfare and internal travel and was very pleased to receive a grant to cover those costs.
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The organisers provided everything once the participants arrived in Camaguey – the third largest city in Cuba, which is about eight hours drive from Havana. Camaguey is a fascinating place, with many old colonial buildings, often sadly, in a state of disrepair.
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It is also known as the City of the Tinajones, large clay pots that were originally kept in courtyards and used to keep the supply water cool.
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Along with 16 Cuban Artists, 17 International artists were invited. A number of these brought their partners, who were ceramicists themselves. More artists travelled from a previous event in the Dominican Republic, so that in the end there were well over 40 artists involved, though not all were there, all of the time. This was just as well, as the studio, which belonged to one of the organisers, Oscar Lasseria, while large for a single artist, was bursting at the seams and the kilns etc. were strained to the limits
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Oscar, like many artists, is a highly respected in Cuba. Generally artists have a better lifestyle, including more contact with people abroad and more access to the Internet than the general public
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Each morning there was a talk by a couple of the participants of the symposium, at the Academia de Las Artes. This is the Secondary Art School, where students between 14-18 study Fine Art, Dance or Theatre along with the usual academic subjects. One morning the final year art students gave presentations of their work, these were most impressive and of an extraordinary standard. The quality of education in Cuba is superb, particularly as there is so little money for anything. I was invited to give a talk on Irish Culture and luckily was provided with an interpreter.
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One of the most interesting pieces was an assemblage by Paulo Alves from Portugal. He combined his ceramic work with found objects in a response to his visit to Cuba. He shares a studio with his partner, Yola Vale, usually working in Raku and their work can be seen on their web-site; www.autoresdeceramica.com
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Many of the artists are well established, such as Vilma Villaverde from Argentina, who is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics; www.vilmavillaverde.com.ar.
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During the symposium, the Egyptian Artist, Ossama Emam, heard that he had won first prize in a ceramic competition in Turin. He has been selected for CIBEKO in Korea next year.
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American Ceramicist, Frank Giorgini, has undertaken a huge tile project in the New York subway and is the author of “Handmade Tiles” published by Lark books. He is also well known for his Udo drums, which are used by major World Music percussionists and have been exhibited and are in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum; www.udo.com
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There was “music while you work” a number of times when various musicians entertained us in the studio and it was lovely to be able to work away while listening to excellent live music – sometimes it just became too tempting and we danced or joined in, in some way. We also spent a number of really enjoyable evenings at the Casa de la Trova, where one of the groups that played in the studio, regularly play.
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As well as our individual pieces, everyone worked on a large communal clay mural and a number of murals on over-glazed tiles. These murals will be placed in public spaces and buildings in the city. Our individual pieces will become part of the Municipal Collection of Camaguey City.
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During the symposium we enjoyed a day off with a trip to the beach at Santa Lucia on the North coast, though unfortunately it was very windy which resulted in a certain sand-blasting effect around the legs!
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There is a very vibrant art scene in Cuba, with all sorts of people being interested in what we were doing. Large numbers came to the final exhibition opening. The event was regularly on National TV, a documentary was filmed for an Arts programme and we were interviewed by a number of people from newspapers reporters to college students. The symposium was a fantastic opportunity to visit Cuba, while not being a typical tourist. We had the opportunity to meet many Cuban artists, musicians and students who spoke much more freely than I was expecting. It was also a wonderful chance to work with artists from 20 countries such as Japan, Lithuania, USA, Turkey, Columbia and Portugal to name just a few.
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