"I shape my pieces entirely by hand, without a wheel, so they are often a bit quirky, and always unique despite being made in series. I believe you can easily see the marriage of the personalities of the gesture and the material in my various creations."
PAULINE DELLA PERA
PAULINE DELLA PERA
Ceramicist, PONTOISE (95)
Pauline reveals her skillful way of bringing her three passions together: poetry, material, and the heart
Tell us your story, how did you find your vocation?
Although I have been practicing ceramics since childhood, my studies in Modern Literature and cultural mediation are quite far removed from craftsmanship. After several years spent exclusively promoting the work of other artists, I was able to start exploring my own universe while working at an art hive* in Montreal during my studies. Back in France, I resumed my ceramics practice in collective studios before setting one up at home and launching my business.
*Art hives are open, free spaces for creative expression where participants can come to paint, sew, and share their skills with others.
How would you describe your style and your artistic approach in a few words?
My style blends minimalism with wabi-sabi. I shape my pieces entirely by hand, without a wheel, so they are often a little quirky and always unique, despite being made in series. I believe you can easily see the marriage of the personalities of gesture and material in my various creations.
In short, I would say that I have three main focuses. The first is poetry. My love of literature and my background in cultural mediation inspired me to stamp poetry onto my functional ceramics (mugs and vases) to bring literature into people's homes. The second is material. I like to leave it raw on many pieces to highlight its beauty and natural sensuality. Finally, the third focus of my work is the heart. I am currently creating an entire series of 100 unique anatomical hearts, whose variety of shapes and colors is an ode to diversity. For every heart adopted, I donate a portion of the proceeds to the association Aides, which fights against HIV and hepatitis.
How do you work?
I work with slab building, coiling, and modeling. I also have a few molds into which I press the clay rather than casting it. This allows me to obtain ridges that are unique on the exterior of my pieces, giving them a natural and antique effect. I sometimes like to enhance these patterns with colored glaze that contrasts with the natural color of the clay, as in my CUIR series.
Do you have a particular technique or specific expertise? Without revealing all your secrets, have you developed your own methods and techniques?
For the ceramic poems, I use leatherworking stamps that I slightly repurpose from their original use. This gives the texts, which I stamp letter by letter, a "typewriter" effect.
