Thursday, December 6 at 6:00 p.m., the MAV – Museo dell’Artigianato Valdostano di Tradizionale inaugurates the exhibition “Il Tempo dei Presepi”. The museum will display 39 nativity scenes from our region in wood and stone from the collection of Ljdia and Gherardo Priuli.
Always passionate about craftsmanship, the couple has collected over the course of forty years, from the Seventies to today, a large number of nativity scenes that are the fruit of their personal aesthetic taste and of the relationships of esteem and friendship born with some local artisans including: Jean Brunodet, Gino Anselmo Daguin, Giuseppe Binel, Giovanni Thoux, Marco Joly and Dorino Ouvrier.
Influenced by the American pop-up movement and lovers of traditional Aosta Valley craftsmanship, the Priuli couple have been enjoying combining these two passions since the 1970s, designing both wooden nativity scenes and paper greeting card nativity scenes.
The exhibition can be visited from 7 December to 6 January from Thursday to Sunday from 10 to 12.30 and from 13.30 to 17 and is included in the entrance ticket to the museum.
Christmas educational workshops
Like every year, at MAV, the month of December and the Christmas holidays are full of themed events.
The Christmas workshops start on December 5th with the Advent calendar and then continue with the workshops dedicated to the nativity scene on December 8th, 12th, 15th and 19th. The afternoon of Wednesday, December 8th is dedicated to the traditional Walser sphere nativity scenes, which the children take inspiration from to create a “ball” nativity scene. The first workshop-event is scheduled for the same afternoon with the craftsman Rudy Mehr, who will showcase his lathe workmanship and his characteristic sphere nativity scenes typical of the Gressoney valley. On December 12th and 19th, children can take inspiration from the nativity scenes by Giovanni Thoux exhibited at the MAV, creating their own personal interpretation in the Falegnameria Didattica. On December 15th, there is the second appointment with the craftsman Simone Allione, an established sculptor on the international scene, who will tell the story of the process of creation from the raw material to the finished work through the creation of a nativity scene. On the same date, children can create a small nativity scene inspired by the shapes of nature. On December 27th and 28th, two days of free educational carpentry are proposed, while on January 4th and 5th, two activities on the Three Wise Men . On Saturday 5th, there is Guglielmo Pramotton, the last craftsman guest of the Christmas workshops-events, whose art shows the simplicity of the sculptural representation and the search for the character of the characters also in the particular shapes of the knots with the creation of the Three Wise Men. The workshops-events represent a novelty and were born from the desire to give value to the uniqueness of the artisan creation, to the peculiarities of each craftsman and to the beauty of the diversity of interpretation of the same object, the nativity scene.
The workshops are aimed at children aged 3 to 12, the cost is €7 per child with the option of a subscription (€35 for 5 entries + 1 free). Reservations required at 0165-763912.
L'Artisanà at “AF - l'Artigiano in Fiera”
This year too, Artisanà will be present at the great Milanese exhibition-market dedicated to the world’s crafts , now in its 23rd edition, scheduled from 1st to 9th December 2018.
In this great global village dedicated to the world’s craftsmanship, the Aosta Valley could certainly not be missing, a region with a thousand-year-old artisan tradition.
L’Artisanà, in collaboration with the Department of Productive Activities of the Valle d’Aosta Region and the Chambre Valdôtaine, has set up an institutional and promotional space with the aim of making our territory and its thousand-year-old artisan tradition known.
Christmas is approaching in the boutiques of l'Artisanà
Starting from Saturday 1st December all the boutiques (Aosta, Ayas, Cogne and Courmayeur) will be open in view of Christmas. In the L’Artisanà shops you can find the best of Aosta Valley craftsmanship: objects in wood, soapstone, forged iron, textiles and ceramics, the result of a thousand-year-old tradition and guaranteed by the IVAT quality mark.
This Christmas, give a unique object that is the fruit of a thousand-year-old savoir-faire!