Ponta Delgada, June 19, 2019
The Vice Presidency of the Government, through the Regional Center for Handicrafts (CRAA), inaugurates the exhibition “Creative Residence 2019 – Ceramics and Vegetable Fibers” on Saturday, June 22 at 3:00 p.m., at the Museum of Angra do Heroísmo.
The project “Creative Residence in Ceramics and Vegetal Fibers” aims to develop experiences that reinforce interculturality and the creation of new products based on natural resources, combining innovation and tradition, betting on the exchange of knowledge and techniques among artisans from the Azores and from Cape Verde.
This regional initiative, developed in partnership with GRATER, aims to contribute to the development of innovation projects based on the most emblematic traditional arts and crafts of the nine islands of the Azores.
The project intends to launch in the market products in which the artisanal component is significant and, through the integration of the products in the brand “Artesanato dos Açores”, create sustainability for the work of artisans and reach new markets beyond the traditional ones.
This was a residence in which endogenous resources such as the wicker, dragon tree leaf, bulrush, straw and clay from Santa Maria were explored, in an initiative that aims to value local raw materials and their use in handicrafts.
In this sense, the challenge that CRAA launched to the artisans and mentors invited for an unusual connection of two different areas, such as pottery and vegetable fibers.
The Residence had seven artisans, namely Aida Bairos, Cristina Bairos and Marina Mendonça, from Santa Maria, Bento Silva from São Miguel, Aurélia Rocha and Manuela Medeiros from Terceira, and Luís Lopes from the Island of Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
In this initiative, under the guidance of Kathi Stertzig and Álbio Nascimento, through The Home Project Design Studio, pieces of collaborative creation and with enormous economic potential were born, produced with materials and techniques typical of the Region and with a renewed aesthetic appeal.
The project Craft & Art – Empowering by Innovation proposes a formative approach to artisanal activities, based on the development of entrepreneurship and innovation skills, which allow artisanal production units a greater diversification and differentiation of products.
The exhibition that will be inaugurated Saturday at the Museum of Angra do Heroísmo will be open until July 28, and can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday and holidays from 10:00 am to 5:30 p.m.
GaCS/CRAA