Organized by
the NGO Artesol , which has been working to promote Brazilian artisans for 25 years, and curated by
Josiane Masson and Marco Aurélio Pulcherio , the free exhibition Arte dos Mestres brought together more than 200 works and exclusive documentaries about the artists.
Another 20 master craftsmen, groups and families from several Brazilian states, such as Alagoas,
Ceará , Mato Grosso, Pernambuco and Pará occupied the Espaço State, in Vila Leopoldina, in São Paulo, from August 30th to September 3rd, and stole the show at Arca's
artsy event. Organized as a parallel event to Rotas Brasileiras,
Arte do Mestres brought a diverse audience eager to see and learn about the works of these incredible artists who were not always at the forefront of the arts.
“We will have the chance to enjoy an
affective, plural, vibrant and personality-filled art form , through the shapes, colors and themes of works that pay homage to the natural, architectural and human landscapes of our country, with stories told by the hands that repeat and reinvent techniques and narratives learned from mothers, grandmothers and ancestors”, says
Josiane Masson , director of Artesol and curator of the exhibition alongside
Marco Aurélio Pulchério . According to him, “the work of these people keeps the tradition of artisanal work alive, perpetuates and transmits knowledge through a craft, and promotes
socio-productive inclusion , entrepreneurship based on fair trade, and, above all, the protagonism of these artists, many of whom come from
quilombola, indigenous and riverside communities ”.
In addition to the pieces produced especially for the unprecedented exhibition, the public can watch exclusive
documentaries that contextualize the social, cultural and creative aspects surrounding these artists.
“Our mission is to act as a catalyst for all the power that the knowledge and skills present in this authorial production already possess, but which in Brazil still do not receive the attention they deserve. This exhibition, which also functions as a fair, seeks to highlight the artisanal processes in the making of the works and the appreciation of our popular culture passed down through generations,” adds Artesol president Sônia Quintella.
An initiative of
Artesol, an NGO dedicated to promoting Brazilian crafts, the project is sponsored by the Vale Cultural Institute and supported by SP-Arte Rotas Brasileiras. More than just highlighting the creations, “Arte dos Mestres” seeks to foster a genuine exchange of experiences between visitors and artists.
About the artists:
Sil of the Chapel (1979) One of the country's leading exponents of figurative ceramic art, Maria Luciene da Silva Siqueira, better known as
Sil da Capela , was born in Cajueiro in the state of Alagoas. She worked cutting sugar cane for local sugar mills from the age of eight, and was therefore unable to attend school. She moved to the city of Capela and, in 2001, began attending the workshop of master ceramicist João das Alagoas in a vocational training project for mothers of children with disabilities. Today, her work is featured in art books and national and international exhibitions, representing and reinventing her childhood memories and the daily life of Capela: children playing, women making lace, groups of guitarists, couples dating, among many other scenes that take place in the shade of a jackfruit tree, a tree that has become the trademark of the artisan's work.
Rosalvo Santana (1964) Rosalvo Maltez Santana works and lives in Maragogipinho, a district of the municipality of Aratuípe (BA). Son of potter Amiordes Santana, Mestre Roxinho, he is one of the few saint makers in the region and stands out for having developed his modeling and firing techniques in a self-taught manner. In his work, he combines the sumptuousness of the baroque and the exaggeration of rococo forms to adorn cloaks and garments with very fine folds, folds and pleats. He has participated in exhibitions such as the IV Bienal do Recôncavo (1998) and the 13th Salão do Artesanato Raízes Brasileiras (2019), and was the winner of first place in the Nativity Scene Competition (IPAC - 1998).
Jason (1954) A skilled woodcarver, Jasson Gonçalves da Silva lives in the village of Monte Santo, Belo Monte (AL), where he seeks inspiration in the caatinga to produce his pieces, designed without any sketches and created from fallen branches and wood. A keen observer, he says that wood is alive, and it explains how it wants to transform itself. Unlike many artisans, Jasson only began his artistic production at the age of 60, encouraged by gallery owners Maria Amélia Vieira and Dalton Costa to produce wooden sculptures.
Master Cunha (1951) José Francisco da Cunha was born on a sugar mill in Ipojuca, Pernambuco, and as a child he made his own toys using banana tree cores and wood. Using wood and other recycled materials, he creates sculptures with fantastic, erotic and humorous characteristics, mixing human, animal and machine forms in works named with curious neologisms invented by him, such as
camelaur ,
your father and
paratrooper .
John Borges (1970) Born in Teresina (PI), João de Oliveira Borges Leal lives in the neighboring city of Timon (MA), located on the other side of the Parnaíba River, which forms the border between the two states. His ceramic sculptures depict everyday scenes with impressive realism and are not painted, precisely to highlight the color and texture of the clay. He portrays ephemeral and simple moments, taking regionalist scenes as his main inspiration.
Master Luiz Antonio (1935) The only living apprentice of Master Vitalino, who invited him to exhibit his pieces next to his stall at the Caruaru Fair, Luiz Antônio da Silva received, by popular vote, the 1st Living Heritage Registry of the state of Pernambuco, an important recognition for the relevance of his artistic and cultural legacy. One of the main characteristics of his work is the representation of scenes and objects related to technology and professional activities, which led him to develop a very sophisticated modeling and burning technique to be able to represent the mechanisms of machines in detail. Master Cornelius (1956) At the age of 15, the master craftsman from Piauí was invited by an Italian priest to carve an image of Christ for the neighborhood chapel, under the guidance of artist Carlos B. From that moment on, he began to carve on commission and exhibit his pieces at events and fairs. He currently works in partnership with his son, Leonardo Leal de Abreu, who is also a carver. With the passing of the master carvers Dezinho and Expedito, José Cornélio de Abreu is the oldest living artisan in the tradition of saint makers in Piauí, considered an intangible heritage of the state by IPHAN in its National Inventory of Cultural References. Francisco Graciano (1965) Son of Manuel Graciano, a renowned artist of figurative art from Cariri, Francisco Graciano is a woodcarver who has worked at the Mestre Noza Popular Culture Center in Juazeiro do Norte (CE). His works are born from careful observation and the richness of the region's popular imagination. He does not make sketches or draw on the wood before starting work. In his creative process, the piece is not born ready; it transforms throughout its production. Everaldo Ferreira (1987) Born in Terra Nova, Pernambuco, José Everaldo Ferreira da Silva learned to carve at the Mestre Noza Popular Culture Center, in Ceará , still a child, is today one of the greatest sculptors and a reference in the production of images of Padre Cícero, a great symbol of the Catholic faith in the Northeastern Sertão. Din Alves (1985) Aparecido Gonzaga Alves, better known as Din Alves, comes from a renowned lineage of artists - his grandfather Pedro Luiz Gonzaga was a woodcutter, as was his cousin José Lourenço. He lived in the Boca das Cobras neighborhood, considered a hotbed of artisans, and began working with wood as a teenager as an assistant, sanding pieces. He soon developed his own style for representing characters from popular culture: stocky and chubby, they attract many admirers and collectors. He joined the Mestre Noza Cultural Center at a very young age, where he stayed for 18 years and served in management positions, sharing his knowledge with the new generations. James Amorim (1943) A multi-artist, Tiago Amorim works with painting on canvas, engraving, wood carving, drawing and writing poetry. In ceramics, a technique that made him famous in the art world, his works feature themes such as the female body and nature - fish, birds, horses and cashews. He learned to model clay from great masters of the craft from Caruaru and Tracunhaém and has extensive technical knowledge of ceramics, clay, porcelain, earthenware (white or ivory ceramics) and other materials. His pieces stand out for the elegance of their lines and the sophistication of their enamel finish. In his creative process, Tiago proposes an original aesthetic reinterpretation of the forms of traditional utilitarian ceramics: a jar split in half becomes two fish and two drops joined together give life to the atobá. William de Carvalho (1966) Self-taught, Welivander César de Carvalho from Minas Gerais is recognized as one of the greatest miniaturists in Brazil, responsible for portraying popular scenes and characters, such as festivals, artistic manifestations, personalities of Brazilian culture and favelas, all in meticulous and small scale. Especially for “Arte dos Mestres”, he will bring his series “Pretas do Willie”, paying homage to names such as Carolina Maria de Jesus, Maria Elisa Alves dos Reis (the first black clown in Brazil), Chica da Silva, Elza Soares, among other black Brazilian personalities. Clelia Lemos (1953) Maria Clélia Lemos (1953) from Minas Gerais began working as a seamstress with her mother, making slippers out of fabric to sell, but soon began creating banners 20 years ago. The first was created to fill an empty wall in an exhibition by Willi Carvalho, her partner at the time. The work was highly praised and Clélia, who did not consider herself an artist, discovered her calling. Her work presents the religious symbolism of Catholicism in Minas Gerais, permeated by strong devotion and popular manifestations. Due to the richness of colors and textures combined with harmony and beauty, her pieces cause a great visual impact and have increasingly attracted the attention of collectors and gallery owners throughout Brazil. Marivaldo Costa (1971) Part of the third generation of a family of ceramic artists, Marivaldo Sena da Costa had already mastered all stages of ceramic production at the age of 15, and was therefore considered a master ceramicist at a very young age. His works follow the Icoaraci or Paracuri style, which reinterpret the graphics of archaeological ceramics from Marajoara found in the Pará region. In the 1990s, he began to dedicate himself more deeply to the study of archaeological ceramics, based on the observation of photographs and pieces by Master Raimundo Cardoso, a pioneer in the production of faithful replicas of these artifacts. Due to his mastery of the technique, in 2016 Marivaldo was invited to be part of the project Replicating the Past , carried out by the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi with the aim of replicating the most representative pieces of its collection. Currently, together with four other ceramists, Marivaldo Costa is one of the greatest references in the production of replicas of archaeological ceramics left by different peoples who inhabited the Amazon. Candido Family ( Ceara ) The family's ceramic production Ceara native begins in the 1960s, when Maria de Lurdes Cândido Monteiro decides to model clay toys, alongside her daughters Maria Candido and Maria do Help . Years later, the three became known as the “three Marias of Juazeiro”. Maria de Lurdes Cândido was recognized as a Master of Culture by the state of Ceara in 2004. He passed away in 2021, leaving his knowledge as a legacy for his family. Currently, five children, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter continue in the production. They sign their works with the initials of their names, forming a code to identify the artists. Like other artisans and production centers in Juazeiro do Norte, the Cândido family is also part of the Mestre Noza Cultural Center, where they exhibit and sell their pieces. Their themes are the most expressive figurative manifestation in ceramics in the region, which has a strong tradition in wood carving. Santos Family (Bahia) The Bahian family's figurative tradition began in the 1960s, when Armando Santos learned to produce small nativity figures to sell to the local population of Cachoeira (BA) and tourists. He passed on his knowledge to his brothers Cecílio Santos and Cândido Santos Xavier, better known as Tamba, creator of the images that consecrated the family's work as expressions of Afro-Brazilian art: the seated Exu with a huge red mouth, the Boat of Exus, the False Priest and the False Nun. Currently, Armando's daughter-in-law, Aletícia Bertosa Ribeiro, and his grandson Florisvaldo Ribeiro dos Santos are the only artists who continue the tradition started by the brothers. Despite the exhibition of the family's works during the emblematic exhibition Bahia in Ibirapuera (1959), curated by Lina Bo Bardi, and other important exhibitions curated by Emanuel Araújo in the 2000s, their presence in this show aims to reactivate their legacy and disseminate it to a wider audience, reiterating the prestige and relevance they should have as genuinely Brazilian works of art. Antonio de Dedé Family (Alagoas) Antônio Alves dos Santos (1953), known as Mestre Antônio de Dedé, would carefully display the wooden sculptures he created at home for customers to see while he worked in the fields. He was discovered by a folk art gallery owner, who promoted his work and encouraged him to explore his creativity even further. The master passed on his knowledge to his nine children, who continued their father's work and passed it on to new generations, keeping alive its main characteristics: the dramatic expressiveness of the characters and the columnar composition, while still imprinting their own artistic individuality on each new creation. Some began to create interlocking pieces that go beyond the original form. His daughters, on the other hand, mainly create totems with economical carvings, but graphically rich due to the colorful and detailed painting. Teles Family (Minas Gerais) Geraldo Teles de Oliveira (1913 – 1990), better known as GTO, was a famous sculptor from Minas Gerais, whose large-scale works created with the help of his son Mário Teles, were presented in national and international exhibitions, museums and biennials in several renowned institutions. Alex Teles, Mário's son, also followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, and continues to carve images in wood that tell stories of Brazilian mythology and popular culture and the artistic relationship between GTO, Mário and Alex, who form an artistic trinity. Wauja (Xingu Indigenous Park – Mato Grosso) Also described as The Waurá , the indigenous Brazilian people who speak an Arawak language, share cultural and linguistic similarities with the Mehinako and inhabit the Upper Xingu region. The pieces in this exhibition were produced by artists from the largest of the six villages that make up this community, Piyulaga. The Wauja are well-known for their ceramic production, as they are the only people in the Xingu to produce it. Their aesthetic is unmistakable and unique in the world. Currently, they mainly serve the art and crafts market, but are also sought after by other peoples of the Xingu complex, who exchange different types of artifacts for pots of different sizes. They are, therefore, the major suppliers of ceramic artifacts for the entire Xingu. Mehinaku (Xingu Indigenous Park – Mato Grosso) The Mehinaku have a population of approximately 300 to 400 individuals, divided into 5 villages located on the banks of the Kurisevo and Kuluene rivers, in the Upper Xingu region. They speak a language from the Arawak family and have many linguistic and cultural similarities with the Wauja. In the field of arts and crafts, the Mehinaku. Among the highlights of the crafts produced by this population are masks and canoes. The women dedicate themselves to sophisticated weaving in buriti fiber and cotton thread, with beautiful graphics and designs. With the weaving, they mainly make baskets and mats that take on new designs and shapes beyond their everyday use, making them objects of desire thanks to their original design. The works presented in this exhibition were made by artists from the Kaupüna village, created in 2014.
