Soft Clay, Resistant Ceramic

February is the month of friendship and love and that is why we have chosen ceramics as the theme. Ceramics are the result of the direct contact between the raw material and the hands, so closely linked to the idea of affection, softness, caress.

Working with wool involves a loom; wood is worked with punches, gouges and mallets; glass requires blowing tubes and tweezers; metals need anvils and hammers. In ceramics, the clean use of the hands, perhaps with the help of a wheel, is enough. From decorative arts, it is the one that brings the man closest to the material where he shapes his work, his love.

The pleasure of holding a piece of clay that is spinning on a wheel and mold it as we please is an enjoyable sensory experience. Digging our fingers into this soft and malleable material to achieve infinite forms or simply like children, for the pleasure of getting dirty and playing, brings us closer to the beginning of the world and to childhood.

Mud has been linked to the man’s history since his appearance on earth. According to the ancient civilizations myths such as the Babylonian, Egyptian or Chinese, the gods created human beings and animals from clay, without forgetting of course the origin of man in the biblical history.

Daily use utensils and amphorae for storing food and wine were made from clay, laws were written on clay tablets as in the Sumerian Empire and crop accounts and sales were recorded on them.  In Egypt, they buried their dead next to the pottery pieces that they used every day when alive. The tutelary gods were represented from the Paleolithic times and pottery pipes were built for the aqueducts during the expansion of the Roman Empire. From ancient Japan to pre-Columbian America, all over the world and in all times, clay has been and is part of life.

What we call ceramics is the result of the modeling clay fired at certain temperatures to make the pots, vases or figurines last over time. From the quality and the mixture of the clay type – white, red or black, refractory or for porcelain – and its firing temperature will depend on the result of the multitude of objects that surround our daily life.