Presentation of the Art Department of Ceramics of DIKEPA for the Grundtvig partnership

The art workshop of ceramics of DIKEPA was founded in 1997, by the initiative of the former president of the organisation, Ms Vorria Helen.
Initially we wanted to give the opportunity to children from 5-12 years old to get in touch with the art of ceramics and develop their creativity in a pleasant way. It’s known to everybody that we assimilate best what is pleasant for us.
At the same time, an exquisite group of handicapped persons joined the workshop. Clay was used as material for Art Therapy, (expression, realisation, trainings).
In 2000 the adults’ class was added as a suggestion for spending their spare time.
Believing that creation, beauty and communication is a way to exist, a dialogue has begun in town for the ceramic art and the co-fellows.
The artistic workshop of ceramics of DEPAG offers the possibility for every person, no matter what’s his/her age, nationality, place of living and abilities, - To get in touch with the history and the know-how of the ceramics using avant-garde and flexible educational methods adjusted to the learning needs of the trainees.
- To express oneself creating with clay.
- To participate into the interactive operation-relation of the group in which one encourages the other to dare discover his/her abilities..

Our ceramic workshop doesn’t just take place into the limits of a concrete room but it influences the city and the area all around with the following activities.
It participates into the yearly exhibition of all the artistic workshops at the end of the educational period, every June. It also participated in the ceramic festival of Thessaloniki, Greece’s co-capital. Every year the workshop opens its doors to everyone that wants to visit it. School groups can get in touch with clay and ceramics, create and express themselves.
From 2000 and on it has hosted
training groups from Italy, France and Finland for several ceramic actions. It also invites and visits professional ceramists to offer the trainees more stimulus and experiences.
It also desires to suggest art pieces as a result of group work to decorate the town.

Acquaintance with the know-how
First year:
- Introduction in the ceramic art from the prehistoric era till our days.
- Construction of a vessel with ‘macaroni’. This technique is as old as the ceramic art.
- The smudge frees, lighting objects with ‘macaroni’.
- Construction of pots, surfaces on sheets, (large flat dishes, pots, lighting objects, cornices for mirrors).
- Replacement of moulds from plaster made from newspapers.
- Decoration with bas-reliefs, stamps, curved decoration, glasses of commerce.

Second year:
Introduction in the composition of shapes, masses and colours
- Floor lamps.
- Composition for the wall, tables. Architectural constructions.
- Decoration with clay of strong fire and recycled glasses.
- Research on several techniques of construction and decoration from all over the world. The subject we usually deal with involves a concept, a notion.

The ceramic workshop wants to be in a continuous experimentation and through the joy of creativity to find solutions in matters of techniques and aesthetics and approach ceramic art from yesterday to today.
That’s why a partnership like Grundtvig on a theme like ours from Tradition to innovation, with two remarkable partner institutions from Italy and Hungary, offers us the opportunity to broaden the dialogue for the ceramic art and the man in a European level exchanging knowledge, experience and ideas.

MOSAICS LAB

?he mosaics lab started its activities in October 2004.Every year lessons last from October to May.
During the first year, the trainees are taught the art of mosaics using pebbles, a material which is rarely used nowadays by the contemporary Greek mosaic artists.
The trainees get in touch with mosaics through a totally natural material. The pebbles are used as they are without any intervention.
Following the tradition of Pella mosaics and having abundance of coloring tones from pebbles we collect from the nearest beaches, we make art pieces inspired by the archaeological wealth of our area but also works with a modern character.
We use the method of indirect placement which ensures that our students have the necessary time to work.
During the second year the placement of inlays from marble, other natural stones, glaze, ceramic inlays e.t.c is taught. In this case the subjects vary as well-from copies of Byzantine icons to modern mosaics.
After the first half of the second year and on, the trainees can try to work with the method of direct placement but also to experiment with new ways and materials.
At the end of each year the art pieces take their final form. One of our usual jokes for this period is to say that when we start the course we are painters but when we finish we are like builders! It's the period that the pieces leave the fabric and wood where they used to lay so far and get into substrate from a mixture of cement. We mainly work with traditional materials – sand, lime, marble dust and we don't avoid using even cement.
Together with all the other artistic departments of DIKEPA, we exhibit our works at the annual exhibition of our organization, believing that in our little way we reinforce Art in our area. For us the mosaics art is a way of expression, a way to keep our tradition alive and a motive to come nearer to one another.
We started this partnership knowing very well that mosaics as well as “mosaics of peoples” consist of different pieces and that this variety can produce marvelous pieces of Art.