Sunday, 18 July 2021

Theodora Horafa's new work

Two venues displaying Theodora Horafa's new work, one of my favourite Greek ceramicists. I've been able to see a lot of her work in various venues over the years, and you can see some of it here  and  here

I have to say, that I am not keen on her new work, but it's so important that artists develop and move in new directions so I welcome this.


At the Benaki Museum on Kriezotou Street:



 


This is what Horafa has to say about her new work:

'This collection's original intention stems from my belief that every expression of life comes from our primary matrix, the Earth, and consequently, clay.

With that in mind, I felt the need to incorporate organic matter into the mineral body of my ceramic vessels. And thus, I toyed with all organic elements I could find: the hair of my dogs, Alma and Gypsie, a hen's feathers, grass, beeswax, raw materials accumulated in the workshop. Armed with all these treasures and following mainly my intuition and not my thinking, I ventured into this unconventional project.

This game reminds me of a quote by Shoji Hamada, a well known ceramicist: 'having spent part of my life learning my craft, I can finally spend the rest forgetting it'.














One of the large bowls from her previous collection, and one of my favourites.


At the Melana exhibition at the Hellenic-American Union:




Madre Matter I + II, 2020, (red low-fired clay, tree root, lead, bucchero 900oC)







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