Enric Mestre, teacher and international leader in contemporary ceramics, dies at 89

Enric Mestre, considered an “international reference” of contemporary ceramics, has died at the age of 89, as reported on social networks by the City Council of Alboraya, his hometown.

During his life, Mestre, born on March 16, 1936 in the Valencian town, exhibited his work in countries in Europe and Asia, a work marked “by geometry and the dialogue between matter, light and space”, according to the council, which preserves a “close trace” of the artist’s legacy in the City Hall, the House of Culture, Plaza Tomás y Valiente, the access roundabout to Port Saplaya and in La Patacona.

Mestre’s last public appearance was in November, as a recipient of “professional excellence” at the González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Sumptuary Arts in València. From the City Council and on behalf of Alboraya, “all possible consolation and encouragement has been sent to the author’s family, friends.

Graduated in Fine Arts, Mestre has been recognized with numerous awards throughout his career, such as the Manises Ceramics Competition, 1972; the Industrial Design Contest of the 72nd Ceramics Fair; the Gold medal of the State of Bavaria in Munich 76 and the Calvia Ceramics Competition 82. Also with the Plastic Arts award from the Generalitat Valenciana in 2009, among others.

Member of the International Academy of Ceramics since 1979 and full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carles de València since 1983, his work has been exhibited in countless national and international exhibitions since one of the first in the Sala Nebli in Madrid in 1964, according to the institution’s website.

On the occasion of the inauguration of an exhibition at the Center del Carme in 2008, ‘Twenty pieces for a museum’, in which two decades of experience were reviewed to pay tribute to an author more recognized outside national borders than in his own land and to his “fight” to reclaim ceramics as one of the creative disciplines, Mestre stressed, asked if he had the feeling of being more recognized outside of his homeland than within, that “it is a confirmation and there is only I have to look at my resume to see where I have had the most exhibitions.

Later, in 2013, Enric Mestre gave ceramics lessons at the González Martí with an exhibition of his works and those of his students where the “rigorous and free” method and the mark he left in 31 years of teaching were reflected. On that occasion, the teacher regretted that ceramics was a discipline that had experienced a revolution that, however, had not transcended the general public and he regretted feeling like “a kind of guide to the craftsmanship.”