The Artistic Process
Art has the capacity to set in motion again what has become stuck.
Even in the case of illness.
Clay Therapy, or ceramico-terapia, sets things in motion and, at the same time, interrupts the routine of the hospital, offering a therapeutic space.
During the workshops in hospital with Fondazione Thun, people would sit around the work table and begin modelling with great spontaneity.
All it took was to pick up a piece of clay.
And the magic began.
Clay is a material capable of welcoming every emotion, without exception.
It is a material on which a mark can be left.
An imprint.
It adapts to each person’s needs, without the need for words.
Depending on who sits at the table, the most appropriate process is proposed, creating a welcoming, protected space in which the child and parent can express themselves according to their own inclinations and needs.
The therapeutic artistic process is a purposeful journey.
Its purpose is to accompany those going through a difficult time, strengthening and nourishing creativity.
Words are not necessarily needed.
The object created can take on a value charged with expectations, for the child and the family.
My work is to make it possible for the child and parent to create what is most important to them in that moment.
It may be a functional object, such as a cup.
It may be an animal.
It may be anything that has meaning for them, in the here and now of the present they are going through.
The piece that is modelled thus becomes a means and vehicle for an emotional core.
And because it does not necessarily have to pass through words, it can also allow even very young children to process their emotions.
That experience led me to question more and more what it really means to work through an artistic process.
Because it is not enough simply to put clay into a child’s hands and allow them to make an object.
The process requires attention.
It requires knowledge of the material.
It requires knowing how to observe the person in front of us and, each time, construct a possible path.
It is also through this experience that the way I work in my studio today has developed.
It is not simply about making something with clay.
It is about creating the conditions for something to happen through making.
And for the process to become part of the therapeutic work.
But the artistic process is not only what happens while we model.
It is the tool.
It is the path that allows us to create, through various stages, the object that is important to make.
The sphere is the seed of the universe.
Through modelling the sphere, almost anything can emerge.
We begin with a simple form.
And from that form, a path can begin.
The artistic process, precisely.
Within the process, the idea, like a seed, takes root.
It grows.
It is nourished.
It takes shape.
We try to give it a body.
And then, to everyone’s amazement, it appears.
It becomes an object in the world.
But the process does not end with the form.
It continues in the studio.
The ceramicist takes care of the object that has been created.
They make sure it dries under the right conditions.
Then they fire it in the ceramic kiln.
They apply the glaze to make it glossy and waterproof.
Then they fire it a second time.
This too is an important part of the process.
The work continues when the child is no longer sitting in front of the clay.
And between one session and the next, continuity is created and sustained by waiting.
The object is still there.
It is changing.
It has to dry.
It has to be fired.
It has to pass through further stages before it can return to the hands of the person who created it.
Waiting becomes part of the process.
And when the work is finally returned, it is a special moment.
Of joy.
Of satisfaction.
Something important has been worked through across various stages, within an artistic process.
In some cases, journeys lasting years are built with some children.
In others, there are single or occasional sessions.
In still others, the object can take on an immeasurable value for a family when the child does not recover.
It is important to see the process of what I do in its entirety.
Not only the moment when hands are on the clay.
Not only the finished object.
But everything that happens before, during and after.
The idea.
The gesture.
The material.
The form.
The waiting.
The transformation.
The firing.
The return.
The artistic process is all of this.
A journey through which something that does not yet exist takes shape and becomes an object in the world.
And perhaps this is where part of the value of my work lies.
In creating the conditions for something to begin.
For it to be nourished.
For it to transform.
And for it, through the hands, to become something that was not there before.
Always working with our hands and with awareness.
