Catherine Dix Ceramics

My work is a story of construction, assembly, emptiness and fullness, shadow and light.

I work instinctively by confronting the forms. I move them from on place to another, start again with others and, gradually, the balance is reached.

The tube is an omnipresent element in my sculptures as well as in my objects.

The shape and the space are two determining factors in my work that I always consider at 360 °.

I find an echo in the constructivist and brutalist architecture having spent my childhood in the Soviet Union, but also in the primitive pottery, with a sensitivity for simple and well constructed objects.

 I work on unique pieces or in small series.

I use different shaping techniques depending on the direction and the rendering I want to give to my work. Potter’s wheel, coil-built, slab-built, stamping.

The choice of clay that I will use is also determinant.

I work with several stonewares : red, white, brown, black. All are grog clay.

The grog gives structure to the clay and makes it more refractory. I chose to work with this type of clay for its crude and primitive look.

A year ago I started working around the bottle. A common, everyday object I choose to divert from its primary function to turn it into a sculpture or a vase. These bottles turned into tripod creatures, sometimes high-pitched or evoking a headless chicken. The interpretation is free.

I do not enclose any of my objects in a specific function. The "accidents" inherent in the work of clay and which are sometimes "happy" also have their place in my work, recalling the necessary humility that enables to understand what a potter faces with clay, water and fire.