It is July 2024 and I am in Minneapolis for an art residency. How does this happen? Above all thanks to Anna Bonavita of Esperienza, who in 2022 brought a group of American collectors to my studio in Faenza.
One of them was Lyndel King, former director of the Weisman Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota. Lyndel became very interested in my work and wanted to bring me here to Minneapolis for an artist residency since she imagined the effect my art will have on local artists and art enthusiasts.
To my complete amazement Anna Bonavita embraced the idea and found a partner Forma Community Clayroom. This is how I arrived myself for the first time in America.
Here in Minneapolis I created a participatory art project on the universal theme of fear. 45 interviews for the 45 days I have been here will be transformed into 45 bowls (soul containers). My hope is this transformation will help alchemize fear into solace. I am working on it...
During my time here I found a very friendly and curious environment, after all America has welcomed people from Europe and beyond since its discovery.
I was invited to give a lecture at the Northern Clay Center, and next year I will return for a solo exhibition at the Soo Visual Arts Center to present the result of these 45 days of work.
The best thing about this trip is that I was welcomed into the homes of Americans, I'm eating their food, learning about their ways of life. This is truly a trip where I live real life.
Yet after more than a month I'm starting to miss Italy, its warmth, its beauty, its people. I miss that concentration of smells, flavors and vitality that are difficult to describe if you haven't experienced it firsthand. This is the magic I believe that Esperienza Italia is offering in their travel programs.
Thanks for everything to all of you and to Esperienza!
Read original in Italian below:
“ Ho trovato l’America”
Sono a Minnepolis per una residenza d’artista grazie ad Anna Bonavita di Esperienza Italia, che mi ha portato ,per uno studio visit a Faenza, 6 donne americane, una di queste era Lyndel King ex direttore del Weisman Museum di Minneapolis. Ho realizzato un progetto di arte Partecipata sul tema della paura. 45 ciotole ( contenitori dell’anima) per 45 giorni e 45 interviste.
Ho trovato un ambiente molto accogliente e curioso, del resto l’America accoglie gente dall’Europae non solo, sin dal 1700.
Sono stata invitata per una Artistic Lectur al Northern Clay Center, ed il prossimo anno ritornerò per una mostra personale alla Soo Gallery per presentare il risultato di questi 45 giorno di lavoro.
La cosa più bella di questo viaggio è che sono stata accolta nelle case degli americani, sto mangiando il loro cibo, conoscendo i loro modi di vivere, un viaggio in cui vivo la vita vera.
Dopo più di un mese incomincia a mancarmi l’Italia, il suo calore, la sua bellezza, la sua gente, mi manca quella concentrazione di odori, sapori e vitalità difficili da spiegare se non li hai vissuti, quello che Esperienza Italia racconta con passione nei suoi viaggi.
Grazie di tutto a tutti voi
Fiorenza Pancino