DERUTA

Deruta . April 2009.

Deruta (the majolica capital of the world) in the province of Umbria has been a pleasant surprise. About an hour and half drive north of Rome, this small town of eight thousand people hosts nearly three hundred pottery studios. In February, we visited Nicola Boccini, Director of the Romano Ranieri School of Ceramic Art (http://www.schoolofceramics.org/) on the advise of Bruce Dehnert at Peter’s Valley Craft Center. Nicola, a well know Italian artist in his our right has opened his studio to me and helped find the family a beautiful apartment in the historical district of Deruta. We plan to stay in Deruta a few weeks before Certaldo and my art project at La Meridiana (http://www.lameridiana.fi.it/).

I have been spending virtually day and evening in the studio working on my contribution to the Landfillart Project (http://landfillart.org/). Susan and the boys after mornings of cyber school have been coming to the studio in the afternoon to learn a little bit of the art of majolica from master Romano Ranieri who doesn't speak a word of English but occasionally busts into opera. Yesterday the boys bought their instruments to the studio to play for master Ranieri.