Decorative bowls by Mieke Everaet and Guy van Leemput
From October 18 through November 22, Terra Delft Gallery will exhibit the work of two artists from Belgium. Both have chosen the traditional art form, in which the function of containment, of holding something other than thin air, has disappeared completely.
Mieke Everaet’s passion is the material; she builds her bowls from ribbons of china clay. Rhythmic repetitions and emerging patterns can clearly be seen in the translucent forms. In her latest work, the bowls are often monochromatic and the form is more wavelike than round. They balance on a small, unobtrusive foot and seem to float, which gives them an almost mysterious character.
That mysterious character also applies to the bowls by Guy van Leemput. This artist finds inner peace in a drive to create, founded in action. Inspired by the architecture of nature, plant stems, seed pods, and jellyfish, he works in series that impose boundaries while still allowing growth. Guy searched for the minimal thickness of porcelain bowls, and found the ‘reversal’ firing technique that transforms the disadvantage of distortion into an advantage: the objects are fired upside down on a support mold that shrinks with the bowl, so that gravity and the kiln’s melting process stretch the form.
Guy van Leemput is one of the artists who worked this summer at the Sanbao International Ceramic Village in Jingdezhen, China, in the cooperation project with Terra Delft Gallery.