Galatea’s Pottery and Art

10/09/2017

I met Galatea for the first in September 2016, on my last holiday trip to Santorini.
At that time I had already decided to move to Greece in 2017 and when we talked in her gallery I expressed my will to move the next season. I don’t know how much credit she gave me.

When I arrived on the island in early spring I went to say hi to her and she remembered me.
We talked a bit, I bought some of her ceramics for my lunch and breakfast and then I left. I came back some time later always to get something new for myself. And I started falling in love with her place.

Galatea is a gorgeous woman, she was born in Greece from a Greek family but they soon moved to Canada where she grew up. She came back to her origins only fifteen-twenty years ago when she decided to change her life and became an artist.
Her studio is a safe place for me.
Since I started taking pottery lessons here, I felt in a fantastic world where I can leave my thoughts out of the door and, for a slot of two hours, I can breathe, relax and enjoy what I am doing.
My mum got really excited when I told her what I was going to start as she immediately thought about the movie Ghost. When I mentioned this to Galatea she told me: ‘Well, tell your mum our wheel is against the wall!’.
I found this location very fascinating, it’s how I imagine the studio of an artist who is using her/his own hands to create something. Everything here smells clay. I love the palette of the studio as it reminds me the color of the material we are working on. I love spotting bright colors here and there.

Galatea is very fun and ironic, that’s why we get along.
Something else I appreciate of her is her relation with her family, which is far away, more than mine. I love to be present at 3pm when her dad calls from Canada and I love her picking up the phone with ‘Iassu Babaka!’. It’s something else that we have in common.

Her art reflects herself a lot.
Her potteries are very simple, in a way, but very elegant. She uses colors in a very joyful way and you can tell that she is creating what she likes despite the fact that we are on a very touristic island where it would be much more easier to make (and sell) something else. She is very humble and resolute.

I have to confess that I have taken these pictures of her creating a pot only to study her movements as an attempt to learn how do it by myself (sabotage!).
I found this process quite difficult, it’s something that they can teach you till some point and then you have to communicate with the clay. Which, it’s not something that is always happening with me! Some times I start screaming ‘Why are you moving so fast, stop it!’ and Galatea usually laughs and rescues me, or rescues her studio by being overwhelmed by pieces of clay everywhere. But she appreciates my swearing in greek!

I wish one day I will have that same harmony and awareness of what I am doing while creating a pot. Look here and I am sure you can see what I mean.

GALATEA’S POTTERY STUDIO
Located in Megalochori, South Santorini
Follow her on Facebook and Instagram