“From father to son — Le Ceramiche Pastorino” is the exhibition that opens 2019 at the Furnace Alba Docilia, in the historic center of Albissola Marina. The exhibition will be inaugurated tomorrow (at 5.30 pm) and continues until Sunday 17 February. journey of a family (Mario, Mirella and Paolo Pastorino) protagonist in the world of majolica for over seventy-five years.Father, mother and son.The first event of the new year at the Furnace Alba Docilia in via Stafano Grosso, near the church of Concordia , is dedicated to a family that has been working in ceramics since 1944 and, for over thirty years, until 1998, with its own factory.
Papa Mario, known as Gianni (or Giannino: 1929 – 2010) was only 15 years old and already an apprentice in a company that produces cups. He becomes an expert potter and meets Eliseo Salino, technical director of the workshop. With him and with another friend, Giovanni Poggi, he founded the Ceramiche San Giorgio in 1958, which is still in full swing today. A year later he will participate in the creation of the large ceramic panel destined for Arhus, in Denmark. Giannino set up on his own in 1963 to found Ceramiche Pastorino: the spring is a large order from Lavazza that promotes a product that dominates the television Carousels. He marries the painter Mirella Fiore, who will form a successful artistic partnership with him. Having worked, very young, in some of the most important terracotta factories in Albisola, she had had some of the finest names in figurative art as teachers: she brings the fruits of those experiences to the company, contributing significantly to the fortunes of the company that was based in Albisola Capo, first in Corso Mazzini and then in Corso Ferrari. Mirella’s latest exploit in manufacturing dates back to 1998: the vase for Confuoco. At the end of that year, Mirella and Mario reluctantly decided to close the business but continue to produce ceramics. Taking over the baton from father and mother is their son Paolo, a computer entrepreneur by profession. With a painter mother, ceramist father and an aunt who teaches figurative art at the Academy of To-
rino, he could not fail to deal with ceramics too. From an early age he has had the opportunity to learn, in the workshop, from family members and artists. He doesn’t let it get away and goes further: he puts himself to the test, participates in improvement courses and focuses on experimentation, overcoming the use of clay and brushes with the airbrush pen with which he develops hyper-realistic artistic forms.
Starting from ceramics, computers and digital photography become further means of expression and communication and lead Paolo Pastorino to the continuous search for new techniques: from design to painting, to photos, to terracotta sculpture, up to the avant-garde 3D extrusion printing technology of clay. This exhibition, curated by Enrica Noceto, inaugurates the fourth season of the La Fornace association. Hours: Thursday 17-19; Saturday and Sunday 10-12 and 17-19.
MP
From Il Secolo XIX