Katerina Giannaka
about
Born in Larissa in 1954. Her artistic nature led her to the visual arts. She was admitted to the Athens School of Fine Arts, from which she graduated in 1980. She was taught in the workshops of the most important Greek teachers, painting with N. Nikolaou and Y. Moralis, stage design and costume design with V. Vassiliadis and mosaic with G. Kolefa. She continued her studies in the modern mosaic in Ravenna, Italy, under professor Paolo Racagni.
She has been a professor of arts in secondary education, serving in Istiaia, Kifissia and Aegina from 1981 to 2004. She then created her workshop in Aegina, where she lives and works until today. In 2005 it was the first time that she started working with ceramics.
Her first ceramic exhibition took place in 2006 in Nafplio. She has held more than 13 personal painting exhibitions in Larisa, Athens, Ioannina and Aegina and 8 ceramics exhibitions in Nafplio, Athens and Aegina. In 2012 she participated in the Panhellenic Union of Ceramists and Potters (PEKA) and was awarded with the 1st prize, and in 2013 she won the 1st Panhellenic Prize in the same contest. Her particular achievement is her painting, which is mainly anthropomorphic. It creates an intense emotional atmosphere, dealing mainly with the psychological states of her models (real or imaginary), while in pottery it is expressed through a more earthy, lively and cheerful look.
Her work can be found in collections of the Larisa Gallery, in Benakis Museum, in the Peloponnesian Folklore Institution, in private collections in Greece, France, Switzerland, Italia, Armenia and Luxemburg. Her parallel love for painting and pottery is expressed through her handcrafted, unique, and also handy ceramics. She has been living and working in Aegina since 1988.
