Corpo incandescente: o corpo e a ancestralidade no processo artístico de mestras ceramistas

Abstract

In this thesis I present experiences and exchanges with two masters: Adel Souki ‒ visual artist, ceramist, researcher and teacher at Guignard Art School, she has an atelier in Brumadinho where she teaches classes and burns pieces in her Anagama oven; Dalzira Pereira Leite ‒ Xacriabá ceramist who does the tradicional ceramic of her people, promoting the legacy of her ancestors, producing animal sculptures from the "cerrado" (tropical savanna in eastern Brazil) since her childhood, who lives in the village of Barro Preto near to the city of São João das Missões, northern Minas Gerais; and Adriana Martinez ‒ Argentinian ceramist, who lives in Avellaneda (Buenos Aires) where she teaches classes and does artist residencies at her home/ atelier, she's a great researcher spreading out the ceramic that reflects the technology of archeological pieces from different Abya Yala people. These masters converge in the burning of the wood, teaching with their present and available bodies dealing with clay,; with mouvements and cadenced gestures, firm and precise. They transmit with great generosity and affection ancestral knowledge. In this work I tried to describe with details these experiences that translate the peculiarities of the practical ceramic work from each one of them. From the clay dealing, the production, artistic creation, from the wood burning to finishing the pieces. This research is about the poetry of gestures, knowledge that imprints the body and the total implication of those who choose this craftsmanship with such dedication. It's about beauty, precision and the firmness of gestures from feminine bodies towards clay. A research in which I reflect about the power of a real connection with Mother Earth, the body that speaks and guides the way to creation, about art that resignifies each new proposal with such a versatile and powerful matter, the clay. I also trace a form on how the experiences and learning from these masters have influenced my research in art, my creative process and they still reverberate in my production as an artist and art educator.