From Friday April 14 to Sunday the 16th, the city of Olavarría "dressed" in chisels in homage to the master Armando Ferreira. The rooms of the Dámaso Arce Museum received the 10th National Meeting in a camaraderie atmosphere that speaks of the vitality of the trade in our country.
After the opening ceremony, the public toured the exhibition attracted by the emblematic works of Dámaso Arce (1874 - 1942), the goldsmith who walked the path from crafts to art, and a selection of works by Armando Ferreira (1941 - 2022), the great silversmith who, as explained by Valentín Demarco -one of his disciples, a goldsmith and contemporary artist-, decided to go the other way, from art to crafts. [1] This concept was presented in the framework of the open talk that Demarco offered to a full room with the title “Ferreira and the invention of Olavarriense silverware”. The creations of both masters were presented accompanied by the pieces of an important group of silversmiths who came to Olavarría summoned by the memory of the great manager of this initiative back in the early nineties.
On Saturday, the morning in Olavarri was filled with emotions and hopes at the Round Table led by the silversmiths and silversmiths present in a colloquium that I enjoyed moderating. The future of the trade through collective effort was approached with passion and commitment, receiving with great expectation the constitution of the Association of Argentine Silversmiths. And in the afternoon it was the turn of the technique; At the "Master Armando Ferreira" Municipal School of Goldsmithing and Traditional Crafts, Luis Chávez -a prominent disciple of Ferreira- gave a workshop on chiseling, with a lively interest from colleagues and students. An act of transmission of knowledge that today has spread throughout the country and is one of the reasons that explain the remarkable development of this trade in times of serial productions of the industrial era and artificial intelligence.
From our link with handicrafts we want to recognize the success of this initiative created by the beloved Armando Ferreira, a teacher without equal. His footprint is part of the route that Argentine silversmiths build daily and his example is a model adopted by numerous craftsmen determined to teach the secrets of the trade, guaranteeing its continuity, validity and renewal.
In the images, a small gallery of works and moments.
Note:
1. Dámaso Arce sold his silverware business in 1928 to dedicate his life to the arts; In those years he made a series of vases that are now stored in the Municipal Museum of Olavarría that bears his name. Conversely, Armando Ferreira, trained in the workshop of Amoroso y Llera -successors of Dámaso Arce- and an eminent draftsman, chose the trade of silversmith to mature professionally and train a host of disciples who today spread that style throughout a good part of the country. so distinctive of Olavarriense goldsmithing.
Works by Armando Ferreira. Photography: Cristian Tato Soriano.
Juan Carlos Pallarols observing a detail in the Evolution of Life Vase, by Dámaso Arce. Photography: Hilario
