Christiane Modert

Ceramicist

©Thierry Claude

Lasting impressions and traces in clay

Christiane is influenced by feelings and local traditions
Her ceramic pieces are odes to the flow of nature's elements
She shapes her work with by thumb and finger pressure

Christiane Modert’s unique ceramic sculptures are the result of her listening to her feelings and allowing them to materialise. She first discovered ceramics while studying fine arts at the Sorbonne Panthéon in Paris. By attending different workshops, Christiane came to see how each master had their own personal way of engaging with clay. She later developed her own style and shared her knowledge with students as an art teacher. Christiane decided ceramics would be her primary means of artistic expression when a fire destroyed her artworks. “My studio was burnt down, along with my paintings and collages. Only my ceramic pieces survived unscathed,” she says. Today, her ceramic works are inspired by intuition and local traditions, such as Péckvillecher, small clay flutes in the shape of birds.

Interview

What is special about working with clay?: The impressionability of clay and its ability to collect time and traces. As a living material, clay reveals its own character and limitations and demands respect. The work is a result of constant dialogue between maker and matter – a play of nature’s elements earth, water, air, fire and time.
How would you describe creativity?: For me, true creativity lies in flowing with form, matter, feeling and thought. It is about grasping the essential message in the kairos and the object’s essence, which gives it an aura and meaning that transcends beauty.
Do you enjoy working with any specific techniques?: I love constructing freely by applying pressure with my thumbs and fingers. I form the elements in my hands, sometimes over a mould. Little by little, the structure takes shape and deforms under the pressure of gravity, and I intervene when it needs to be supported and held.
What do your pieces represent?: They are all unique sculptures symbolising nature. The process reflects the life of all living things – a movement between growth, unfolding and decay, much like germination, blossoming and withering, which in turn bears seeds for the next cycle.

Christiane Modert is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2016