The 7th Matres International Women's Ceramics Festival - Primitivism 2024 held in Cava de' Tirreni, Vietri sul Mare and Pontecagnano Faiano ended on August 25.

       A great involvement of the citizenship of Cava de' Tirreni took place for the event - THE ISLAND OF COOKED EARTH - organized as part of the festival program held in Amabile Square on the evening of the 24th from 6 to 11 p.m. Organized by APS Associazione Pandora in collaboration with the Department of Public Education, Department of Social Policies, "Carducci Trezza" State Comprehensive Institute and the Observatory of Different Abilities of Cava de' Tirreni.

     In the square there was a conspicuous number of stations/workshops open to all citizens, accompanied by demonstration moments of the artists present at the festival. The numerous artists, from different European and non-European nations, created a path of communication and rapprochement, through the simple practice of ceramic art, among the people present from the most diverse backgrounds.

Lab stations include:

- Opening "TOUCH ME," the project of Angeliky Papadopulou artist and lecturer at Di.K.E.P.A. Pellas - Greece. It proposed the contact and communication given by the daily gesture of greeting two people who meet, only there was a piece of clay in their hands. The imprint of the gesture bears witness to the invention and becomes part of a ceramic composition. The action involved young people from Pandora Ability of Cava de' Tirreni and also a crowd of relatives, artists and passers-by who participated with great interest and joy. A philosophy of action to find pleasant ways of meeting diversity and disability with simple and direct gestures to convey a message of inclusion.

• - To follow, in addition to the manipulation workshop "ceramics rehabilitated" with Pandora Ability, Angeliky Papadopulou and the City Observatory of Diverse Abilities, at other locations there were:

• - impromptu performances and demonstrations by ceramic artists Eunjoo Kim, Sugimoto Hitomi, Youngmi Park and the many Pandora artists;

- demonstrations and interaction with the public for modeling and processing of pottery wheel artifacts by teachers and students from Istituto Galizia Di Nocera Inferiore and Accademia delle Belle Arti in Naples, Francesca Prinzi and master potters Francesco Capaldo, Santino Campagna and Maurizio Della Greca;

- demonstrations and work with the miniature lathe and introduction to decoration on majolica with artists Rosalba di Chiara and Emilia Balestrieri;

- the Experiential Workshop "Discovering the Mother Goddess." with Stefania Spanedda. The activity was proposed starting from the artistic reading of the symbolism of the prehistoric Venus or Mother Goddesses to discover, under the guidance of Stefania Spanedda, the semantics from the same prehistoric goddesses spread over a vast geographical area that encompassed Europe and Asia for a very long time, evidenced by the vastness of archaeological finds that have come to us. This experiential workshop aims to convey the importance of the fundamental relationship between the art of earth manipulation and the birth of Culture; the sacredness of Woman and her fundamental role up to the present day and also the important phylogenetic legacy of clay manipulation, which is also fundamental in our digital age;

- the "Laboratory Connections" - The creation of a traveling collective work by the group Four moons. The participants, starting from the perfect initial shape of the circle 28 cm in diameter, made different shapes with similar inlets that allow the connection of the pieces, which can be joined together creating new figures, connecting with each other, changing and mutating all the time. It is the evolutionary result of socialization, necessary to live together in harmony. A growing work, proposed in an itinerant way by the Quattro Lune Group thanks to the meeting of various artists and people in different Italian squares, spaces and widespread creative moments. For the dissemination and communication of the project, the group has a visible online archive with photos of all works and references to people. www.quattro-lune.com/archivio-connessioni.html

- the Raku station with Pandora artists for decorating pieces for raku firing and firings with master and master potters Matteo Salsano, Alessandro Scalese in art Sasaska, Michele De Leo, Maria Cotellessa, Elisabetta brunetti Buraggi, Marina Rizzelli, Marcela Balbontin. Until late in the evening, the workings continued and the participating public was able to collect their artifacts including those decorated at the moment and then fired with raku firing.