Exhibition

EXHIBITION OPENING 15.06.2023, h. 18.00-21.00
EXHIBITION DATES 16.06 - 30.06.2023

Clara Holt is an Italian artist, born in Pescara in 1987. She moved to Milan in 2006.
After university, she worked for 10 years for a television company, dealing with marketing and advertising. At the same time, she attended several ceramic courses, specialising in wheelthrowning and ceramic decoration, and more recently the School of Engraving at Castello Sforzesco in Milan, pursuing her personal artistic research.
Since 2018 she works in a ceramics workshop in the centre of Milan, exploring the potential and characteristics of different materials.
Narration is the core of her work: each piece tells a story, often inspired by legends and mythology. Through dense details and dreamlike, imaginative characters, her illustrations leave room for different interpretations, not limiting themselves to being purely decorative,
but becoming the very essence of each piece.
Clara teaches ceramic decoration techniques abroad and online.
She showed her work in Italy, France, England and Iceland.

The exhibition “Clara Holt: nothing but stories” will include over 35 pieces including terracotta artworks, etchings and tiles.
This solo show is designed as a journey into Clara’s world made of myths,
Greek epics, surrealist influences and childhood stories.
The “ Terracotta Blues Project” is realized in collaboration with Chiara Zoppei, a Milanese Ceramist and each piece is wheelthrown by Chiara and decorated with blue slip using the sgraffito technique.
The sgraffito is a ceramic decoration technique where a layer of slip
(a mixture of clay,pigment and water) is applied to completely cover the surface of the pot. Then, the potter uses a sharp tool to scratch or carve through the slip, to reveal the color of the clay body underneath.
This creates a contrasting design with the exposed clay body forming the negative space.
Sgraffito designs can range from simple lines and shapes to complex patterns and images: the technique has been used for centuries and is found in various cultures throughout the world.
For the artist, it is a very immediate technique: working with a tip, instead of a brush, the pictorial gesture is cancelled and replaced by a much more instinctive, raw way of drawing.
Clara tells mystical stories through framed tile murals, handmade in stoneware and sgraffito decorated, and etchings, limited edition art prints of original illustrations, made using the etching and aquatint techniques.
The visitor will also have the chance to find marine-themed tiles from a collection of hand-printed tiles with original illustrations depicting fantastic sea creatures.

All the pieces will be on sale. 

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Located in the heart of the Navigli District in Milan,
“Da Opera” is the agency headquarter and an independent gallery
where to find unique handmade pieces carefully selected.
Each and every artworks is one-of-a-kind, presented through a constantly evolving exhibition, according to the mood of our artists and the seasons.
From paintings and objects to sculptures and illustrations,
“Da Opera” is a vision and a place to call home, where the love for art meets the passion for the research.

Ci vediamo Da Opera.

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Milan 
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