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SOFIA DEDE (Greece, Athens b. 1926 / act: Athens) |
Sofia Argyropoulou-Dede was born on 6 December 1926 in Athens, Greece. She studied at Pierce College and graduated in 1949. Her education in art is based on a brief period of study in the Athens School of Fine Art, where she took drawing courses with Yannis Moralis, and the many years of experience in ceramics with Alekos Kardiakos. It is worth noting that Dede belongs to the artists that work more for the satisfaction of themselves, rather than for any particular system.Already from a young age Dede was a member of the 'Thymari Attic Club', with which she visited mountains and the country of Attica, in order to acquaint herself with wild plants as a nature enthusiast and an amateur botanist. In her works there is an incredible variety of free drawings inspired by various species of Greek plants, in which are included wild thistles, capers and other wild flowers that only expert botanists may identify surely by their names.
Dede also specialized in ceramics taking lessons in the folk ceramics workshop of Alekos Kardiakos (†1967) in Maroussi, and then developed on her own. Studying the old motifs of Greek folk decorative arts and adapting their production to the style of their finest examples, Dede enriched the number of prototype decorative elements that she uses on her ceramic types (vases, jugs, cups, plates, and tiles). § Dede developed the prototype decorative motifs that are based on Greek popular tradition and are inspired from the deep love of nature that distinguishes her. In her art she developed a mannerism that is characterized by a young person spontaneous imagination.
Sofia Dede has presented many personal exhibitions in her hospitable home in Athens, where she continues to live and work.
[Megakles 12/2006]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
ROGAN-ILIOPOULOU, DORA A Tribute to the Alumnae Artists of Pierce College 2006 The American College of Greece, Athens, p.44; 107; 157
