Querardien van Vliet

I use the firing techniques and aesthetic of African pottery, where an open fire or saggars are used to blacken and finish the surface of unglazed wares. Direct marking by fire gives an immediate sense of depth where the effects of smoking or fuming penetrates deeply into the ceramic surface. Several years ago I moved away from the traditional 'pot/vessel' by creating 'composite objects' made from cut and re-assembled parts, as well as slip cast pieces that form an installation, often modeled on postmodern, curving, architectual forms with hard edges and projections. I am now hand-building the object entirely by using coils to form the object so as to be able to see clearly the hand actions of rolling and joining in the finished object, when the painting by fire reveals all. Objects have now become almost totally sculptural.