Galatea Papageorgiou – The Artist

Written by Bianca Ghikas

My dear friend Galatea and I met in Santorini, both of us were born in Greece and resided in Ontario, Canada. Soon thereafter, i wrote an article about the Acrotiri frescoes and interviewed Galatea as one of the artists that their art was inspired by them, a short time later i begun my radio show “World Roads with Bianca” on the station www.topmelodyfm.gr Santorini and decided to interview Galatea on my show; we had so much fun during the interview that I asked Galatea if she would like to be my co-host and she accepted. From then on our friendship flourished

Galatea is a very talented artist and not just in pottery!!! Lets get to know her a Little better.

Galatea was born in a culture rich environment, her father an architect and her mother had studied painting in Greece. She graduated from McMaster with an Honours BA in French literature and a BSc in Mathematics, a year later in 1994 she received a teaching certificate from Western University of London Ontario. She had settled working, bought a House and a car, however, she was very unhappy working 8-10 hours a day in front of a computer, she decided to take night classes, she tried photography with dark room development, painting and dying on material and in her own words “I finally stumbled upon ceramics” She discovered her calling, “Making pottery”!

One day out of the blues in 1999, Galatea sold her House and car, quit her job, and moved to Athens, Greece, where she enrolled in a three-year ceramics and arts programme. She later did a four-year apprenticeship under Andreas Makaris and Christie Kapetanaki, a couple who had been living as potters on Santorini for close to 20 years. Thereafter, in 2004 she decided to make Santorini her permanent home and establish her studio and store in the outskirts of Megaloxori on the road to Acrotiri.

I asked Galatea when she began painting, drawing and silk painting and this was her reply: “I started what I call doodling when I was a teenager. I would not call what I do drawing, it is quite abstract. I do not have a formal training for drawing. My first batik class was during an eight and half month trip in south east Asia in 1991-92. I was on the island of java in Indonesia in a town called solo. It was just a tourist thing to do. Later on, once I got back home, I bought all the materials needed and started doing batik on t-shirts. About 6 years ago returned to designing and dying silk scarves. These are also available in my store.” The scarves are uniquely beautiful, and she makes two different sizes.

I asked Galatea what inspires her to do her amazing and beautiful pieces, here I print her reply in her own words: “I have been influenced greatly by the beauty and colours that surround me. The bright blues of the sky and the sea are a dominant feature of my ceramics. Similarly, I have designed a painted motif that represents the traditional houses of the island. It has become one of my most successful styles. I feel very fortunate that I live on Santorini and believe my ceramics would be very different had I returned to Canada instead of continuing to live and work in Greece.”

Galatea does not talk about it but i personally know that she is an incredible writer, she has her gagablog and gagalog, both area awesome. Perhaps someday she Will decide to do a gagalog book …you never know what the future may hold!!! Another one of Galatea’s many talents is the making of cooking and jams OMG” Elixir of the Gods”, sheer ambrosia ¡!!!

Galatea comes back to Canada every year at Christmas, sometimes we see each other, so naturally knowing that her immediate family lives in Ontario I asked if she would ever consider moving back and opening a studio and store here, she replied that for the immediate future there are no plans in the drawing board, and she added that if she were to return to Canada she would look for a place in the Hamilton area because there is a wonderful community of potters and artists there.