MaltaMedia.com

The archaic village centre of Attard, beautifully decorated with strings of lights and enlivened with the soothing sound of jazz music on one side and romantic Sicilian tunes from a piano accordion in the pretty little square near the church, created a suitable ambiance for ceramic artists to practice their art to the delight of the numerous audience which visited the First Malta Ceramics Festival.

Well known ceramic artists mingled with amateur potters and craftsmen giving the public present demonstrations of various exciting ceramic techniques such as throwing on a wheel, hand painting, modeling with clay, coiling and displaying the exciting firing technique called raku.

The highly acclaimed First Ceramic Festival kicked off with ‘Tribute Exhibition’, which was appropriately dedicated to three ceramic artists who passed away in the last six months, that is Neville Ferry, Julie Apap and Joe Casha. All three were teachers, to whom many of those present owed their initiation in sculpture or ceramics. This vibrant exhibition was inaugurated at Centru Papa Gwanni in Attard, by Parliamentary Secretary Dr. Chris Said who emphasized the importance of festivals and other activities which shed light on Maltese arts and crafts . He said that the ceramics festival is serving this main objective and the government is committed to keep supporting local councils, NGOs and individuals who organize such activities which enhance the identity and national cultural and historic heritage.

Attard Mayor Mr. Stefan Cordina made a short welcome speech and Malta Arts Council chairperson Perit Adrian Mamo also addressed the numerous crowd present and declared the festival open on the same occasion.

The following supporting event was a most interesting seminar which was very well attended, with the speakers being, practicing artists such as Charlot Cassar, Paul Haber and John Bonnici, and art correspondents Dr. Louis Lagana, George Glanville and Italian art critic Gino Carbonaro. The topics chosen ranged from pre historic to contemporary ceramics in Malta, and also dealt with various technical aspects of ceramics such as modeling, firing and glazing, all of which interested the audience present which included students and ceramic artists amongst others.

The third day of the festival was dedicated to children in an activity held at St Niclolas College Primary School in Attard . Children’s Commissioner Ms. Helen D’Amato found a large group of children all absorbed practicing the craft of pottery making. The diversity of their creations was without limit - one could see clay robots, human figures, animals, pots and tiles with a dairy topic which will later form a mural to be displayed in the school. The children were offered food and fruit yogurt courtesy of Benna products and Attard Local Council. An exhibition of children’s work, made by the students of Clay Club at Alka during the summer holidays was put up for show while the children were entertained by animators on stilts, Gino Carbonaro on the piano accordion and 10 year old Eyrton Mifsud on drums.

The highlight of the festival was of course the festival night, where about 40 ceramists, mostly assisted by friends or family exhibited their creations and worked in public, many of them for the first time creating a beautiful atmosphere where visitors saw clay turning into art pieces through a variety of different techniques. Vice Prime Minister Dr. Tonio Borg praised the initiative of the organizers and their supporters Attard Local Council and the Malta Arts Fund and commented about the age of the people he saw working with clay, ranging from 4 years to 80 years, saying that it was never too late to start since some of the participants he had spoken to, have started pottery making on reaching pension age.

Beautiful animators invited the visiting public to participate actively by making a tile in one of the three themed murals which were made on the spot. The first mural called ‘Flora and Fauna’ was supervised by Ceramic Artist, Sina Farrugia Micallef, ‘Human Body’ was led by Mario Sammut another ceramic artist while MCAST Lecturer and diver Nadia Haber was in charge of a mural for children called ‘Underwater’. Ceramics Lecturer George Muscat led a workshop with MCAST students who made pots on the throwing wheel and also obvara raku firings. Music on the stage was provided by the group Trania, Jazz Quartet by Vinny and Walter Vella, and a Trio by Charles City Gatt.

The First Malta Ceramics Festival is the initiative of Alka Ceramics managing director & event organizer Ms. Joan Haber and ceramic artist & architect Valerio Schembri.