In Artema Galli's ceramics, Sicily does not appear as a decorative citation. It returns in the colors, in the figures, in the irony, and in the way tradition is continually deconstructed and reassembled.
We came to know Artema through her hand-painted majolica: faces, Pupe, irregular shapes, and characters suspended between family memory and imagination. Her work struck us because it doesn't strive for serial perfection. Instead, it retains the stroke, the unpredictability of firing, and the personality of its creator.
In this conversation, she told us about her childhood spent among the ceramics of Santo Stefano di Camastra, her Pharmacy studies, the birth of her personal language, and why she continues to create.
Interview and image selection by Lorenzo and Elena — Vicode.
Brief Portrait
A Sicilian ceramist, without affected folklore
Artema describes herself as "Sicilian as Sicilian can be." Her roots are evident, but they never become a limitation. Moorish heads, island decorations, and childhood memories are reinterpreted through unexpected proportions, vibrant colors, and almost naive characters.
Her work combines seemingly opposite elements: technical knowledge and a desire to surprise, the history of majolica and a personal figuration, respect for tradition and the need to move away from it.
Artema's voice
"My majolica comes from the union of a never-grown child's watercolor fantasy and fidelity to a millennia-old island tradition."
From Santo Stefano di Camastra to a personal language
Artema's first connection with ceramics predates her knowledge of techniques. As a child, she observed and touched objects displayed in the workshops of Santo Stefano di Camastra. At home, she tried to reproduce their appearance with Das clay and available colors.
Her academic path initially took a different direction. She chose classical high school and later graduated in Pharmacy, also pursuing an interest in chemistry that would find a new application in the behavior of glazes, pigments, and firing.
Childhood
Walks among the ceramics of Santo Stefano di Camastra and first experiments with shapes and colors.
1992
The concrete beginning of working with ceramics and studying traditional techniques.
2008
The search for designs, decorations, and shapes closer to her personal identity.
Today
An evolving production, where each new work opens a different path.
The birth of the Pupe
After years dedicated to traditional forms and decorations, Artema felt the need to create a language that represented her more directly. This search led to the birth of the Pupe.
The starting point is the traditional Moorish Heads and the stories that accompany them. Artema retains their symbolic power but modifies expressions, proportions, and character. Her figures become softer, more ironic, and fairy-tale-like.
The decorations can range from geometric to figurative. The face is no longer just the support for an ornament but a character with its own presence, halfway between Sicilian memory and contemporary imagination.
Earth and fantasy
The roots remain recognizable but are not merely repeated. They become the material from which new figures, new stories, and new decorative possibilities emerge.
Conversation in the studio
01 — The origins
What is your first memory related to ceramics?
My love for ceramics has very ancient roots. As a child, I was fascinated by it even without knowing the techniques yet. I experimented with Das clay and colors, trying to achieve something that resembled it as much as possible.
02 — The process
What is the creative moment you identify with the most?
More than molding clay, I love to paint. I am fascinated by the unknown outcome, because ceramic colors change after firing. Black can become green, lilac can turn blue. You have to imagine in advance what the fire will return.
03 — Sicily
How much do your roots influence your color and shape choices?
They matter a lot. They deeply influenced the early years of my work, in particular. Even today, I remain fascinated by the colors, stories, and figures of Sicilian tradition, especially the legend of the Moorish Heads.
04 — Imagination
Where do the subjects suspended between dream and reality come from?
From my imaginative nature and my love for fairy tales. I like to daydream and let myself be surprised by the small details of everyday life. I often live a bit in the clouds, and I believe this part of me inevitably ends up in my works.
05 — The research
Is there a work you consider your manifesto today?
I don't believe there is a single work that can represent me. Perhaps it's always the latest one, because I experience a constant restlessness that drives me to seek new paths. It's a kind of creative stress that keeps me curious.
06 — Tradition and freedom
How do you balance artisan knowledge and contemporary freedom?
I follow tradition, but not rigidly. Adhering to it slavishly would risk flattening personal identity. I prefer to listen to my nature and what I want to tell. In the end, however, my origins always resurface and influence decorative and plastic choices.
07 — The meeting with Vicode
Why did you choose to collaborate with Vicode?
I was struck by the originality of the products and the taste with which everything is presented. I recognized myself in that visual and narrative language and in the way objects are accompanied by their stories.
Imagining color before fire
In majolica, the visible color during decoration does not necessarily correspond to what will appear after firing. The result requires technical knowledge, experience, and an almost design-like ability to imagine the transformation.
This is where Artema's scientific studies and her artistic sensibility seem to meet. On one hand, the behavior of oxides and glazes; on the other, the drawing, the figure, and the freedom of the brushstroke.
Her why
"I paint because I have to. It's an inner urgency: to create, simply because I couldn't do otherwise."
Artema Galli x Vicode
The collaboration with Artema arises from the similarity between two ways of understanding an object. Not as a simple decorative complement, but as a presence endowed with voice, imperfections, and identity.
Each majolica is handmade and hand-painted. Variations in color, stroke, and surface are not defects to be corrected, but elements that distinguish one piece from another.
The Artema Galli x Vicode collection features sculptural vases, painted plates, faces, tiles, and figures born from the dialogue between Sicilian culture and contemporary imagination.
Faces, plates, and small sculptures interact with the Decoration collection, dedicated to designer objects for interiors.
To learn more about materials, craftsmanship, and ways of using ceramics in interiors, you can also consult our guide to ceramic art and decoration.
The shapes of the narrative
Hand-painted majolica in which faces, symbols, and colors transform each object into a character.
Discover the Artema Galli collectionGetting to know Artema means understanding that tradition can remain recognizable without standing still. Her works preserve Sicily but narrate it with a personal, ironic, and ever-transforming voice.
Interview by Lorenzo & Elena — Vicode
