Microcosmos. Small-format ceramics exhibition
Each ceramic work is a universe. Within the small scale of these pieces dwell landscapes, memories, gestures, and stories that invite close observation. Far from limiting its expressive capacity, the small format focuses attention on the essential: material, form, texture, and detail.
Microcosmos offers a journey through worlds contained within a few centimeters of clay. Each piece is presented as its own territory, a space where imagination, experience, and craftsmanship converge. As in nature, where a fragment can reflect the complexity of the whole, these works reveal that the magnitude of a creation does not depend on its size, but on the intensity of what it contains.
The exhibition will bring together ceramic works by members of the Association of Ceramists of Catalunya and will be displayed in the Musubu Espai Cultural hall. The exhibition aims to explore the capacity of ceramics to build intimate universes, inviting the viewer to come closer, pause, and discover the richness that dwells in the small.
Microcosmos brings together a constellation of small-format ceramic works where each piece constitutes a unique universe. In the intimacy of the small scale, clay becomes a territory for exploration, memory, and discovery. These small forms remind us that the immense can also dwell in the minimal and that, sometimes, the palm of a hand is enough to hold an entire world.
Participating artists from the Association of Ceramists of Catalonia:
– Mila Cristóbal
Born in Premià de Mar, Barcelona, she holds a degree in Applied Arts, specializing in ceramics, and is a Higher Technician in Plastic Arts and Design, specializing in Applied Sculpture. She has held individual and collective exhibitions in Madrid, Barcelona, Badalona, Manresa, Vilasar de Dalt, Corbera d’Ebre, Torredembarra, Teià, L’Escala, Tossa de Mar, Encamp (Andorra), Robecchetto con Induno (Italy), and Limoges (France). She is the author of a commemorative work for the Premià de Dalt City Council and a ceramic mural created with sculptor Xavier Martos for the parish church of Castellbisbal.
– Glòria Ferrer
Born in Barcelona, she began her relationship with ceramics in 1976 at Escola Llotja, specializing in stoneware and refractory. Co-founder of Taller Bugambilia (1981-2024) and awarded the Mestre Artesà Diploma by the Generalitat de Catalunya (2018), she has developed over the years a distinctive style with a strong Mediterranean character, combining wheel-throwing, slab work, and molds, with special attention to texture and color through glazes. She has participated in numerous collective exhibitions in Catalonia, Aragon, and Italy, and is a member of the Board of the Association of Ceramists of Catalonia.
– Montserrat Altet
Born in Barcelona in 1951, she holds a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona (2007) and a degree in Ceramics from Escola Massana (1971). She was a tenured professor of Ceramics at Escola Llotja in Barcelona between 1986 and 2016. Her work has been exhibited since 1970 in cities such as New York, Paris, Buenos Aires, Athens, Taiwan, and Dublin, and includes a public art piece in the Parc de la Creueta del Coll. Among other accolades, she has received the FAD’99 Award and the 3rd Award at the El Vendrell Ceramics Biennial, and has published numerous articles on her work and her doctoral thesis.
– Judit Casanelles
Born in Tarragona, she discovered clay in 2005 and has been continuously training ever since: she attended the former Escola d’Arts i Oficis de Barcelona, the Escola de Ceràmica de la Bisbal d’Empordà, and the Taller-escola Ramon Fort, until graduating in 2019 as a Higher Technician in Plastic Arts and Design in Artistic Ceramics. She works primarily on the wheel, creating utilitarian pieces designed to bring well-being to everyday moments. She fires at high temperatures (1260 ºC) and constantly researches new glazes, although lately she is particularly drawn to raw, natural clay. She combines her studio work with teaching.
– Esther Ramos
Born in Barcelona in 1950, she trained at Escola Massana, where she studied Ceramics (completed in 1978-79) and Jewelry (1990-92). Since then, she has developed an active career with individual and collective exhibitions, and regularly participates in national and international fairs. She has published articles on ceramics with Box publishing house. She currently teaches the full ceramics course, specializing in wheel-throwing, at the Escola d’Arts i Oficis de la Diputació de Barcelona, thus combining artistic practice with the transmission of her craft to new generations of ceramists.
– Maya Kitti
She trained in Industrial Design at the University of Gothenburg, where she discovered her passion for ceramics and the potter’s wheel, a central tool in her practice. She primarily works with porcelain, fascinated by its ability to transmit light, and also explores dark porcelain, investigating the tension between light and shadow. Her work combines Scandinavian roots with her daily environment in Barcelona, where she lives and creates. Co-founder of the Nomadic Makers collective, she has exhibited and completed residencies in Barcelona, Taiwan, Latvia, and Lithuania, always seeking timeless pieces that convey calm and balance.
– Miguel Rivas
Architect, visual artist, ceramist, and cultural manager of Dominican origin, based in Barcelona since 2019. He currently collaborates as a cultural manager and programmer at Musubu, a cultural space dedicated to creating connections through art, learning, and cultural exchange. His career naturally spans architecture, design, and visual arts, with complementary training in cultural management and curatorship. As an artist, he works with drawing, painting, and ceramic sculpture, exploring the relationship between material, gesture, and time. His pieces, inspired by nature, the body, and memory, combine traditional technique with a contemporary perspective.
– Xavier Bienvenido
