emerging artist: katriona drijber
Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, I have always felt held in by their
walls; through the medium of clay, I play with this sense of containment,
creating spaces for people to enter into within the context of their daily
lives. Working through function, I create spaces from which to draw sustenance
in a literal way; this references the sustenance I draw metaphorically from the
landscape which is so important a part of my identity.
walls; through the medium of clay, I play with this sense of containment,
creating spaces for people to enter into within the context of their daily
lives. Working through function, I create spaces from which to draw sustenance
in a literal way; this references the sustenance I draw metaphorically from the
landscape which is so important a part of my identity.
In my practice, I try
to find balance between the piece that gets put in the glass cupboard and never
used and the piece that goes straight from the dish drying rack and onto the
table again. I blend the natural world outside the doors of the home with the
friendships and relationships that grow and develop around the dinner table. I
strive to create work that injects ethereality into everyday life, work that
brings small moments out of the drab or the ordinary. Utilizing the
transformative power of clay, I create microcosms which the viewer or user can
explore – portals of escape into a fantastical refuge from the everyday.
to find balance between the piece that gets put in the glass cupboard and never
used and the piece that goes straight from the dish drying rack and onto the
table again. I blend the natural world outside the doors of the home with the
friendships and relationships that grow and develop around the dinner table. I
strive to create work that injects ethereality into everyday life, work that
brings small moments out of the drab or the ordinary. Utilizing the
transformative power of clay, I create microcosms which the viewer or user can
explore – portals of escape into a fantastical refuge from the everyday.
The thin and
translucent porcelain used in my sculptural and functional work is evocative of
much of what I love about the natural world – for instance, the petals of a
flower or the veils of rain of a passing storm. I fire most of my ceramics in
the soda kiln. This, for me, is also inextricably bound to my concepts of
animation, gesture and the natural world. I enjoy the interplay between rough
surfaces like bare clay or thin layers of flashing slip, and the wet and
luscious surface of a glossy, runny glaze. Through the unpredictable process of
soda firing, fleeting flashes of brightness and color, so illusory and hard to
pin down in the natural world, can be captured upon the surface of a piece for
people to enjoy for years in their everyday lives.
translucent porcelain used in my sculptural and functional work is evocative of
much of what I love about the natural world – for instance, the petals of a
flower or the veils of rain of a passing storm. I fire most of my ceramics in
the soda kiln. This, for me, is also inextricably bound to my concepts of
animation, gesture and the natural world. I enjoy the interplay between rough
surfaces like bare clay or thin layers of flashing slip, and the wet and
luscious surface of a glossy, runny glaze. Through the unpredictable process of
soda firing, fleeting flashes of brightness and color, so illusory and hard to
pin down in the natural world, can be captured upon the surface of a piece for
people to enjoy for years in their everyday lives.
