Di_Verse at School is the visual poetry and ceramics workshop led by artists Alfredo Gioventù and Daniela Mangini.
The first edition took place in October 2022 and was followed by an exhibition of the works realised as part of the project in May 2023. The educational courses were held in the primary schools of Marciana and Marciana Marina and at the Environmental Education Centre in Lacona, for a total of 25 hours of workshops and training.
The 2022-2023 project saw the children develop a bond with their land and an awareness of its natural features through manual work, personal creativity and group work. The project began with a reading of the text "il Castagno" by Mario Lodi, pedagogist, writer and teacher who revolutionised the concept of schooling, putting children at the centre and using the identity and context of pupils as a starting point for enhancing their potential.
Making free use of the words from a page of "Il Castagno" by Mario Lodi, the Di_Verse at School workshops enabled the pupils to embark on a collective creative writing experience that led to the discovery of visual poetry and the creation of two ceramic panels.
The approach to poetry is inspired by the techniques of "Found Poetry" and consists of each child creating one or more verses which, shared among a small group, lead to the creation of a stanza. All stanzas were discussed and analysed according to the collective writing processes tested and documented by Mario Lodi and contributed to the creation of a class poem.
Poem by Marciana primary school:
La tempesta sibilò in mare
raggelando il cielo.
Sbatté una finestra,
il ramo più bello cadde.
L'aria correva tra le foglie secche.
Il bambino domandò al mare
una lunga notte d'amore
e spezzò il vento.
Poem by Marciana Marina primary school:
Perché tutto è alla riva?
L'artista ammira la tela:
la burrasca gioca con il sole,
il vento ha portato lontano la sabbia dorata,
intorno alle dune i granellini rotolano.
L'isola moriva nel deserto.
The two texts were subsequently graffitied on clay modules (one for each child) textured and decorated with natural elements.
IOnce baked, the panels were delivered to the G. Giusti school of Marina di Campo
The workshop "How are stones formed?" helped participants, both adults and children, to retrace the geological events behind the formation of mountains and the atmospheric and mechanical events that create river pebbles and stones smoothed by the sea. Using different coloured clays and nerikomi pottery techniques, participants made stones of different sizes, shapes and colours.
