Mariapia Gambino 

Mariapia Gambino

native of Sicily, she lives in Faenza (a few kilometers from Bologna) since 2001.
He studied Ceramic Art in Sciacca (Sicily) and then in Faenza, where she specialized in Conservative Restoration of Ceramics and Glass in 2003. In the same year she worked at the National Museum of Valencia in Spain. Until 2008 she worked as a pottery restorer, collaborating with public and private institutions in Italy and Germany.
The passion for ceramics and paper have accompanied Mariapia during her artistic training, so much that in 2010 she started to use the technique of Papier Maché, through which she created an imaginary world inhabited by graceful and dreamy creatures. During these years her work with papier maché grew a lot and her audience with it.
She took part in numerous exhibitions and competitions (Turin, Collodi, Alessandria, Bologna, Faenza, Ravenna, Rimini, Rieti, Riccione, Brussels, Imola, Florence, Forlì, Agrigento, Pisa, Fiesole).

Since 2017 she's exhibiting at Soul of Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (Cina).
Since 2016 she's exhibiting at two art galleries in Turin and Bologna.
In 2014 she was selected for the exhibition "A dream for Europe" at Palazzo Berlaymont, the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, during the Italian Presidency, where Mariapia displayed two works dedicated to Pinocchio. These works are now in the Museum Park of Pinocchio's permanent collection in Collodi (Tuscany).
In 2012 she was selected for the exhibition/competition: BOOKS HAND MADE in Pieve Santo Stefano (Tuscany), ILLUSTRIOUS TALE in Vasto (Abruzzo), 30 ARTISTS FOR PINOCCHIO at the Museum Park of Pinocchio in Collodi (Tuscany).
In 2011 her work “Traveling with Alice” won the Arts and Crafts Prix at the international contest BOOKS NEVER NEVER SEEN.
In 2015 and in 2016 some of her works have been published in three Italian magazines (Milan) and in an Arabic magazine (Dubai).
From 2011 to 2014 she cooperated with the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza and teached papier maché at the Municipal School of Art "T. Minardi".
From 2011 to present Mariapia works with schools, libraries and cultural associations in Emilia Romagna, where she teaches papier maché to adults and children.
Her studio is located in the main square of Faenza, Piazza del Popolo, the heart of the Romagna town, worldwide known for its pottery.

PAPIER MACHE' AND THE MARIAPIA'S CREATIONS
The technique of papier maché used by Mariapia Gambino meets the needs of our time: thanks to contemporary materials, the paper achieves very good results in terms of resistance to different climatic conditions.
Her production is divided into two categories: the commercial production, meeting the needs of a wider audience, for whom she makes creations on commission; and the artistic production, mainly reserved to art galleries and collectors.

The artistic production, called by Mariapia herself "objects of the heart", is mainly made up of limited edition works, each one numbered. The heart objects are born singularly, but come to be part of a larger family growing over time. Each character has its own story that the collector can imagine or invent, a story able to interact with and/or integrate the other characters' one. Each creation is a world meeting other worlds.
Worlds that touch, move in and out of each other. Worlds that create other worlds, with love. No uninhabited worlds: indeed, they vibrate with life. But not everyone can notice it. It takes attention and curiosity to meet the creatures made by the Sicilian hands of Mariapia. They are small paper and metal sculptures, but that's only the basis. What matters it is the height to which they aspire. The height of poetry, and the depth of their stories. Stories of light and shadow, joy and thought: every creature is preceded by a past and sees ahead a thousand possible futures shine.
No creature, however, is an island. Each one interacts with the others, admires them, sometimes envys, almost always helps each other. They talk, play, work. And sing, especially they sing. In pairs, in trios, in chorus, their silent music expands our horizons and adds a dash of color to the imagination of all of us.