In January and February 2026, the activities of the OTRart project organized by the European Route of Ceramics took place in Faenza, Italy.
The European Route of Ceramics decided to implement the residency in collaboration with Carlo Zauli Museum. Located in Faenza, it is a museum dedicated to the Faenza-based ceramist Carlo Zauli and to ceramic techniques in contemporary art.
THE ARTISTIC RESIDENCY
The residency took place at the Carlo Zauli Museum in Faenza from 26 January 2026 to 8 February 2026, with some events open to the public. Two artists participated, Valentina Canseco – from Paris – and Elio Secondo – from Faenza.
In ten days, not only they developed a strong philosophy around the necessity to combine art and environmental sustainability, but they were able to express it through art. Their artwork is truly based on recycling and waste circularity, for different reasons. On the one hand, they used the clay collected from the mudslides that struck Emilia-Romagna in spring 2023. On the other hand, they included existing materials (for example, large vases) donated by other local artists.
The artists envisioned a totem that combines objects emblematic of Faenza with clay creations. The sculpture includes a series of symbols: breasts and a uterus, evoking fertility and regeneration; Medusa and her snakes, figures of protection and transformation; and lion’s paws, guardians of strength. These elements form a mythological body, entrusted with watching over the city and its inhabitants.
The European Route of Ceramics and the Carlo Zauli Museum ensured a great involvement of the local community and dissemination of the results, organizing an opening event to welcome the artists, visits from the local artistic high school and a final exhibition. Entitled « Le lacrime della terra mi vestono / The tears of the earth clothe me », the exhibition was an event open to the public, with a high number of participants and great feedback. The artists presented their artwork, and the audience was involved in a presentation “ritual”.
THE ARTISTIC WORKSHOP
The workshop “Ashes, powders, and oxides – experiments in circular alchemy” took place at the Carlo Zauli Museum in Faenza on 20 February 2026. The trainer was Paola Nuovo Gómez, a ceramist from Faenza.
It was opened to ceramists to teach them how recycle organic wastes into ceramic pigments. It sparked great interest among the ceramic community of the city, and it was “sold out” already some days before the closing of the registrations.
For centuries, potters have created sublime glazes without knowing modern chemistry, relying on practical knowledge based on ground rocks and plant ashes. This workshop explored that fine line where the material is alive and imperfection becomes beauty. Following the teachings of Shoji Hamada, participants were taught to limit raw materials in order to awaken empirical intuition. Because while science explains the process, it is art that generates the work: two opposing worlds that were brought together.
Most of the materials used came from the Sala delle Terre (Hall of Earth) at the Carlo Zauli Museum, a space that contains materials personally acquired by the artist during his career. Some of these were partially damaged during the flood that hit the city of Faenza in May 2023, a factor that made their use in the workshop even more significant.
