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Alchimia, Anna Drexel, Azahara Santoro, Chiara Cavallo, el.marneri gallery, Enrica Prazzoli, Francesca Urciuoli, Lavinia Rossetti, Lena Grabher, Nur Terün, Valentina Caporali
Last Friday was the opening night for the PATTERN exhibition at Eleni Marneri Gallery and I had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful artists whose work was shown for the first time in Athens.
The different personalities and cultural backgrounds of the 9 artists served as the basis for the exhibition. Chiara Cavallo is from Rome, Lena Grabher and Anna Drexel are from Austria, Lavinia Rossetti from Pisa, Enrica Prazzoli is also Italian. Nur Terün is from Turkey, Francesca Urciuoli from Perugia, Azahara Santoro from Valencia and Valentina Caporali from Turin.
Azahara Santoro’s installation at Eleni Marneri Gallery. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
A few of the 200 memory-filled plastic cups created by Azahara to decorate Alchimia’s spring window found their way to the gallery. Azahara used different colors, plants and objects that remind her of her past. Four of the nine artists, all Italians, were present at the opening; I’ve taken some pictures for you to see and tried to remember all the things we talked about.
Chiara Cavallo
Chiara Cavallo at Eleni Marneri Gallery. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Chiara was the ‘quietest’ of the four and yet she was the first one to take the initiative to talk to me about her work. She explained that she had experimented with paper and inspired by the morning and evening sky she created forms reminiscent of clouds and sunsets. The pieces are big and very light; the brooches are constructed in such a way that the wearer can also see their backs while wearing them.
Chiara Cavallo – Necklace. Paper, gold, thread. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Chiara Cavallo – Necklace. Paper, gold, thread. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
The second part of her work was based on a self-portrait exercise; Chiara told me that she likes being organized and that she works very methodically and in a very structured way so that her fellow students say she’s like a working bee. Taking that as a starting point, Chiara created necklaces and earrings out of bronze and gold.
Chiara Cavallo – Necklace and pins. Bronze, gold. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Valentina Caporali
Valentina Caporali at Eleni Marneri Gallery. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Unlike the rest of the group, who graduated from Alchimia a few months ago, Valentina just finished her second year in Florence. She loves working with natural materials like wood and stones. She has studied anthropology and is very interested in how craftsmen created jewellery thousands of years ago. She uses tree branches and handmade hemp thread for her necklaces and found wooden pieces for brooches and pendants.
Valentina Caporali at Eleni Marneri Gallery. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
At the exhibition, she was wearing the first pendant she ever created and explained that is is very precious to her and cannot part with it. Both of the following necklaces are proof of a very meticulous and patient work. She cut branches and connected them with hemp thread; the first one expresses ‘order’ and the second one ‘chaos’ to express how things may start out harmoniously but eventually get out of hand.
Valentina Caporali – Necklace and ring. Wood, hemp thread, pebble. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Valentina Caporali – Necklace. Wood, hemp thread. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Valentina Caporali – Necklace. Wood, iron. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Valentina Caporali – Brooch. Wood, iron. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Lavinia Rossetti
Lavinia Rossetti at Eleni Marneri Gallery. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
The first things one notices about Lavinia are her Tuscan temperament and her wonderful smile. Some of Lavinia’s pieces are the result of experimenting with a process of burning and coloring sponges (see necklace below). Lavinia also created very impressive earrings and necklaces, which she made by soldering together very small pieces of metal.
Lavinia Rossetti – Necklace. Sponge, metal, golden leaf. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Lavinia Rossetti – Earrings. Silver. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Enrica Prazzoli
Enrica Prazzoli at Eleni Marneri Gallery. She is wearing her favorite brooch, which resembles a very popular Italian hand sign. Can you guess which one?
Photo by Eleni Roumpou
“I talk with my hands, a lot” told me Enrica Prazzoli, who decided to use this aspect of herself and create brooches that show how she communicates in her own sign language. She dips wire in a mixture of plastic and color to create words or phrases and communicate with the viewer. At the exhibition she was wearing her favorite brooch, one specific hand sign that is very popular in Italy. Can you guess what it is?
Enrica Prazzoli – Brooch. Wire, plastic. A close-up of the most popular Italian hand sign.
Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Enrica Prazzoli – “OK” Brooch and rings. Wire, plastic. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Enrica Prazzoli – Brooches. Wire, plastic. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Enrica Prazzoli – Brooches. Wire, plastic. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Enrica Prazzoli – Brooches. Wire, plastic. PATTERN exhibition at Eleni Marneri Gallery.
Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Francesca Urciuoli – Necklace. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Francesca Urciuoli – Necklace. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Azahara Santoro – Brooch. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Azahara Santoro – Brooch. Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Lena Grabher – Necklace.
Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Nur Terün – Necklaces and bracelets.
Photo by Eleni Roumpou
From left to right: Ioanna Natsikou, another Alchimia alumna who was visiting the exhibition and the four artists Valentina Caporali, Enrica Prazzoli, Chiara Cavallo and Lavinia Rossetti.
Photo by Eleni Roumpou
Thank you Eleni Marneri Gallery for organizing the exhibition and thank you girls for coming to Athens and talking to us!
Congratulations to all of you for the wonderful pieces!
And thank you for reading 😉
Contemporarty™ 
Eleni, your photographs and details presented by the jewelers in this article are outstanding – I feel a sense of myself standing in the gallery w/ you as you viewed these fabulous pieces and conversed w/ the artists. The curatorial concept behind this exhibit really works, and I can appreciate why each jeweler was chosen. One can readily see how various materials the artists chose and found-object elements complement back and forth. The paper/thread combo of Chiara Cavallo vs. the wood elements and iron chain of Valentina Caporali is one such example, though all of these jewelers accent each other’s work so harmoniously. Thank you for taking us through this exhibition!
Thank to Elenifor the time that she granted us . Thank also to @artdoesmatter for the interesting 🙂 It has been a great exhibition and we got a good feed back by the viewers. Hope to come back soon to Athens !!