The main focus of the CASA DE YOKAVIL program is to investigate America's native pottery, art making and education.
Since 2019, it has offered Residencies and Workshops aimed at national and international potters, artists, managers, and archaeologists who wish to train in pre-Hispanic and traditional archaeological ceramic techniques.
The space is located in the Calchaquí valley, Catamarca province, Argentina, South America
The house and residents' workshop are located on a rural farm, in a valley with native forest surrounded by mountains and rivers, in the heart of northwestern Argentina with views of the Andes mountain range.
This location is strategic for its beauty and natural resources, has important clay quarries, and has great cultural richness and a tradition of artisans with pre-Hispanic roots.
The proposal is to make pottery using pre-Hispanic techniques, reproducing the complete sequence of making a piece, from start to finish. This means walking the landscape, recognizing the raw materials, collecting them and manipulating them in the workshop. Pottery making is by hand, colors are prepared by hand, with clay and mineral pigments. Firing takes place in wood-fired kilns.
The proposal also includes walks in natural environments, visits to archaeological sites and traditional villages.
The program promotes respect for the environment and research to build a sustainable space that includes the vision and participation of local residents, integrating them into social, cultural and economic activities.
CASA DE YOKAVIL offers training based on the horizontal relationship between students and teachers, in each case participants are guided by teachers throughout the educational and practical experience of ceramics.
The admission of interested parties who do not have experience as potters is not excluded.
In 2020, CASA DE YOKAVIL also activated online teaching, offering group and individual lessons with personalized accompaniment.
Residencies and workshops provide training in theoretical aspects, technical processes, ancestral burning methods, applied research and job creation with instructor support throughout the process. Raw materials, tools and baked goods are included.

Modalities are as follows
Individual creation residency: up to 3 participants. Duration: 1 - 2 weeks.

Group creation residency: up to 12 participants. Duration: 5 days - 1 week.

Services: the residents' house is a building made of "adobe" (a mixture of clay, water and straw), offering three rooms with a private bathroom, plus kitchen and multipurpose space of 80 square meters. Wi-Fi is available.

The outdoor recreational and working space consists of a garden and a 3-hectare (7.5-acre) nature reserve with native forest between the Santa María River and the hills.

The workshop or studio has a large workspace with natural lighting and an outdoor area with raw material processing areas and wood-fired ceramic kilns.

Participation in activities includes lodging and all meals, some cooked in an earthenware pot and others in the traditional wood-burning oven. The kitchen is available and fully equipped.

Residents will experience education, research and creation in a space surrounded by nature.

Languages required are Spanish/English/Italian/Portuguese.

Applications: interested parties are asked to submit a proposal for a specific project that can be developed and exhibited during their stay at CASA DE YOKAVIL. Applications are reviewed and selected for their feasibility of implementation, favoring projects that dialogue with the environmental, historical or cultural context of the place or region. For more information write to the contact links.

CONTACT

E-mail: [email protected] Whatsapp: +5492281400332 Instagram: @karinagarrett.catamarca Youtube: Karina Garrett LA CASA DI YOKAVIL www.facebook.com/karina.garrett.arg