Art constitutes an essential element in human development and evolution. It provides multiple benefits in the areas of education and social integration, given its socio-educational, creative and invigorating function.
With this perspective, Bathco decided to launch a social programme linked to its Atelier, with the goal of bringing art and its application to ceramics to groups not strictly related to the business world.
So, Bathco’s Atelier opens its doors to schools, special education centres and hospitals, and offers them different content and experiences in the form of hands-on workshops. This allows children of different school ages and people with some type of physical or cognitive disability to learn first-hand, through play and experimentation with pigments, techniques and different materials, about the work being done at the Atelier.
The first to visit the company’s facilities were the students of the Colegio Salesianos de Santander pre-school and those of the special educations centres Fernando Arce in Torrelavega and Juan XXIII in Santander. All of them got to experience first-hand the work being done at the Atelier: manual application of stencilling, incrustation of Swarovski crystals, production of hand-painted pieces, creation of three-dimensional pieces in porcelain for murals, etc.
For the teachers at these centres “these types of activities fully develop their creativity and their artistic abilities, and always generate expectation and excitement for facing the challenges of doing something new and different”. They also highlight how “their time in the Atelier facilities lets them see how work is done based on a project, stimulating their creativity and their social abilities outside the educational environment”.
The students became artists for one day by using different pigments that they themselves mixed with water and oils for application to the ceramics. The result was a series of tiles that served as a canvas for some colourful and very interesting works.
María Centeno, Cecilio Espejo and Emeric Minaya, Atelier artists, led the activities with the students in the workshops. For them, the most interesting part was seeing “how small children and people with disabilities are capable of fully using their abilities, freeing themselves instantly of any prejudice or limiting barrier to give free rein to their imagination and express their ideas in a completely individual and personal way”.
