MARIA VLANDI (Athens, Greece)
Maria Vlandi was born in Athens in 1952. In 1976 she graduated from the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, and in 1978 from the Ceramics Department of the Athens School of Fine Arts. She has had eight solo shows: 1988 Epipeda Gallery, Athens. 1994 Argo Gallery, Athens. 1998 Anemos Gallery, Athens. 2002 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens. 2006 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens. 2009 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens. 2012 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens. 2016 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens.
She has participated in many group shows in Greece such as ‘Art-Athina’, Athens 2016, 2009 and 2001, as well as in Italy, United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland and Turkey, and in international symposiums.
Distinctions: 1982 First Prize, Panhellenic Ceramics Exhibition, Athens. 1983 First Prize, Panhellenic Ceramics Exhibition, Athens. 1985 Silver Medal, International Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art ‘Premio Faenza’, Italy. 1993 First Prize, Panhellenic Ceramics Exhibition, Athens. 1994 Silver Medal, International Competition ‘Gualdo Tardino’, Italy. 1995 First Prize, Panhellenic Ceramics Exhibition (Architecture Section), Athens. 2003 First Prize for Art Intervention for Ano Patissia Metro Station. 2003 Third Prize for Art Intervention for Maroussi Metro Station. She is a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece and a founding member of the Association of Ceramic Artists of Greece.
Personal website: http://www.mariavlandi.com/
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I compose in space different independent rectangular and cylindrical members, creating asymmetric jointed modular pieces and large sculptural structures. The surfaces of the members are often decorated with radial carvings, curved indentations, dot, symbols and letters reminiscent of monumental forms of Greece’s pre-classical era. My work exude multiple messages that invite the viewer to connect with the symbols of time and place. I experiment with and create my own hard glazes, treating them further after the final firing, by sanding, chipping away at them, and working against the smoothness of the glaze. I attempt to embody it to the underlying stoneware rather than it being a coating. In this way, I treat clay like stone or marble.
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Maria Vlandi's residency at the Siena Art Institute is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
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