SHELL VASE 8 YELLOW AND WHITE Glazed sandstone sculpture

Unique sculpture vase in glazed stoneware decorated with engobes and oxides by Marie-Pierre Biau

Inspiration:“When I work with clay, my starting rule is the container (bowl, vase, bowl, etc.). Often mounted with a coil, sometimes by extraction, the piece is initially built in the image of a simple form. The rest is more instinctive, the earth dictates the sequence to me; the coil becomes unfinished, creating appendages to the original container; Peaks, openings, volutes arrive as the last gestures of modelling. On the still malleable sandstone I place a decoration of oxide or engobes, dots and lines of colors that drip on themselves, or small dots systematically applied with a brush or engraved in the earth. After the first firing, I often draw with oxide pencil on the piece. Before the final firing, partial or total glazing completes the piece, between shadow and light. The original rule is respected, the container has lost its usefulness, it has become a sculpture object. My desire is not to look for a boundary between container and sculpture, only to find a balance between function and its possible abstraction.”