Anne Marie Laureys

Ceramicist

©Anne Marie Laureys

©Peter Claeys

©Anne Marie Laureys

An ongoing dialogue with clay

Anne Marie's creations reveal the vivacity and sensuality of clay
She feels her ceramics are 'metaphors for feeling'
Her works can be found in private and public collections

Anne Marie Laureys' passion for ceramics was sparked when she fell in love with a handmade Portuguese goblet. She studied ceramics at the Luca School of Art in Ghent, and since then, has not spent one single day without throwing clay. For Anne Marie, the process of making is an ongoing dialogue between herself and the clay. After manipulating vessels in various ways by pushing, ruffling, twisting and pinching their walls with firm yet gentle movements, she assembles them to create an organic abstract form. Her pieces often seem close to objects that we can identify from nature: shells, fossils, and swirling water patterns.

Interview

©Peter Claeys

Do you train apprentices?: Not for the time being. I prefer the isolation and loneliness of working on my own. To me this craft represents a long journey of discovery, an endless investigation and a neverending process of creating new forms in clay.
What are your specialisations?: Throwing, altering and assembling and colouring the pieces in a very subtle way. Clay is a material with no limits, which has accompanied the whole history of mankind, and likewise the vessel is a timeless object typical of all cultures.
The act of throwing is, in itself, key to your work.: It is. In fact, once I even had a dancer come to train with me in the studio. I asked him to mime the actions of throwing a pot on stage, because I wanted to get the movements right. It was a very important experience, from many points of view.
What does 'well made' mean to you?: It’s an intense commitment with the material. It means that the work is technically well executed in every stage of the process of creating. Last but not least, it is taking care of the piece when it is finished.

Anne Marie Laureys is a master artisan: she began her career in 1985 and she started teaching in 1996