Ceramics & technique
Elysia: "the work I make is an expression of my being: it makes my heart free.."
After throwing the bowls, vases, cups and dishes, I let it dry and go on working out the forms through cutting and adding rough clay slib on the object. I never make sketches of the work I want to make. I have a vague idea and start cutting. It developes when I am working on it. Inspiration I get from our own garden. Leaves, flowers and seeds I take to my studio to study the forms. I always make my own interpretation of it in clay. Not all the work I make is first throwed. Sometimes I use clay plates, which I roll out to press it in contraforms, to make the round bowls for instance. I also use an extruder to make vases out of hollow tubes. The colours for the ceramics are pigments, painted on the dried clay. The glazes I use are stonewareglazes, for all work I make is made on 1270˚. It enables me to work with the finest clay like porcelan for instance.
Grafiek-Keramiek
Textures and structures are very important in the work of Elysia. Sometimes she uses forms which were printed in the clay to receive a structured form. Looking at the enormous mount of woodplates I developed during my woodcut-life, Elysia saw a possibility to print the woodplates in clay. The result was astonishing. The cut out parts of the woodplate appeared crystal clear on the surface of the clayplate. The plates are "glued" together in order to form boxes and other forms, which are strong enough to stand the heat in the oven, when burned to stoneware. We called the result "grafiek-keramiek", although Elysia gives a totally new appearance to the forms cut out of the wood. It is always a surprise when the door of the kiln is opened and the works are put on the table. How the pigments and glazes have been worked out. There is a literal symbiose between woodcuts and ceramics.