The creation of objects representing parts of the world, using tanned leather: this is the stimulus received by the schools that participated in the competition called “Conciati nel mondo” (Tanned in the World) organized by UNIC, the National Tanning Industry. The Vicenza tanning district was well represented. At Lineapelle, the bronze medal was awarded to the “African Masks” made by the students of the lower secondary school “A. Beltrame Montorso” of the Comprehensive Institute 2 of Arzignano (VI). The competition was won by a stunning reproduction entirely covered in leather of Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, including the leaning tower, built by the Institute “Leonardo da Vinci” of Castelfranco di Sotto (Pisa).
A special quality award was won by the class “3B” of the secondary lower school “E. Motterle” still of the Comprehensive Institute 2 of Arzignano (VI) with their work called “Freedom of the World”. Coordinated by Professor Giovanni Cimatti, the students of this class approached Pop Art to represent the Statue of Liberty covered with flags of all countries of the world. The project, on which the class worked the for several months, has not only contributed to a better understanding of the world of leather and of the artistic expression, but it also had a high educational value on the themes of freedom and individual responsibility. Here again the description of the students on their creation. “The name of the work, Freedom of the World, stems from our desire for a free world in which, within each nation, all people can achieve their life plan. It is truly free only someone who is specifically committed to themselves and to others, someone who, untangling their potentiality, gives a positive contribution to society. It is truly free someone who respects others, who is generous with themselves and with the world, someone who does not think only of themselves and their own interest or fun, someone who donates a portion of their time generously to help the needs of others and who participate in social life with a spirit of solidarity. Being free, to us, means taking into account genuine values for your lives and the lives of others. Freedom is, in short, a project and is combined with responsibility: each one of us is free to go beyond the level of pure instinct, to understand what is our roles in life and to implement it freely and responsibly”.
Significant were also the works “Roma Caput Mundi” of the class “3C” of the same institute with a reproduction of the Colosseum as a metaphor of the ability to integrate different races and different people, which does not find equal evidence in the entire history of the world, rather than as a symbol of the power of Rome, and “Tuttotondo” of the students of the classes “3AM – 3BM – 3CM of Montorso, coordinated by Professor Monica Tomasi, which speaks the graffiti language, and reproducing the style of Keith Haring, creates a multitude of different characters that give life to a vivid picture, where the meaning transcends mere representation of human diversity, to suggest other deeper values such as the acceptance of differences or the love between people.
