Gozo Centre for Art and
Crafts - Annual School Exhibition:
This year, the Annual School Exhibition
is being held on the 30th of May, 2008 at the Exhibition
Hall at Ministry for Gozo, where it is habitually
set up year after year. Items on display vary from
amongst the 45 courses which are held at the Centre.
To mention some one can find pottery, gilding, pyrography,
glass, thread filigree, monasteru, parchment craft,
textile design, jewellery gold/silver, basic art
adults/juniors, silver filigree, wood/stone carving,
ferrobattuto, papier-mâché, graphical
design, tapestry/embroidery, candle craft, beading,
lace, pencil/charcoal/ink art and art attack for
the young ones. For the setting up of the exhibition,
students are invited to present items executed during
the current scholastic year.
The Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts,
first opened its doors to students on the 27th of
December, 1989, as a state school, under the name
of Gozo School of Art. At a later stage, the school
was renamed after the Gozitan artist Wistin Camilleri,
so as today the Centre carries the name of The Wistin
Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts. The 45
students who used to attend the Centre in 1989,
has today reached that of 1081. From its inauguration
the centre is continuously thriving to promote art,
crafts together with artisans on the island. Proof
of this is the continuous backing by the Student
Services Department, formerly the Department of
Further Studies and Adult Education. Each year,
the need was being felt to shift the approach from
a traditional school of art to a more contemporary
approach, catering fro more than hobbies or simple
personal enrichment. To start with, we embarked
on a thorough embellishment programme for the whole
school. The Ministry for Gozo decided to further
boost our school, by extending to it a Crafts Development
Centre. The project was co-financed by the E.U.
and officially inaugurated on the 27th of Febuary,
2008, by the Prime Minister of Malta, Dr. Lawrence
Gonzi. It includes an extension to the Wistin Camilleri
Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts and an underlying
incubation centre. The incubation centre comprises
10 units and an exhibition space of its own, which
is provided for local artisans who wish set up their
works in their sector. Five workshops equipped with
the most recent I.T. system, have been set up on
the first floor, for the benefit of students attending
classes in pottery, glass, metal, silver and goldsmith
and wood and stone carving. Forming part of the
complex are the administration offices, a conference
hall and a second exhibition hall.
The centre's priority in its mission is to enhance
artistic talents amongst all age groups, starting
with a young generation followed by an elder one.
Through Art, we seek to follow contemporary art,
offering our students all possible techniques in
design. In Crafts, we seek to maintain local traditional
crafts while reviving those which by the passing
of time fade away. The Centre works hard to keep
the school's motto alive: Crafts Creates Beauty,
Art Defines it. As mentioned above, the scope behind
all courses is to keep Gozo, with its social and
cultural aspects alive. To this regards most subjects
run at the centre are strictly related to the texture
of living in Gozo in the past years, but at the
same time include a hint of technology so as to
broaden the acquiring of further skills in the execution
of the artifact.
Annual School Exhibition:
Date: Friday, 30th May, 2008
Venue: Exhibition Hall Ministry
for Gozo
Time: 5.00
