magineCeramique
is a multilingual site that focuses on French ceramic art and French pottery.
The English language homepage
opens up with a list of French ceramic artists, alongside options to access
ceramics by various French
Museums, Ceramics
Suppliers and French
and international Associations and Potter's Markets.
French ceramics have their own particular style, which is often characterized by a looseness in execution of the work and an organic look. This is a strong contrast to let's say German ceramics, which are often characterized by exactness and geometric forms and decoration. The work of Steen Kepp, for example, nearly belies the material he works with.
Ceramic artist Bruno Jacquart has been working with clay for 14 years. He works with raku, achieving subtle effects as well as strong contrasts with metallic flashing achieved in the raku process. Odile Culas-Bonnin works with stoneware clay fired to lower temperatures. These piecees are then salted and smoked with rubber. Odile previously worked on the potter's wheel, but has since migrated to using molds and slabs. She is particularly interested in natural cracks and fissures and man-made traces left behind in the earth such as by ploughs.
The work of Anne-Marie Sybesma de Buy utilises an effect that most ceramic artists are trying to avoid -- thermal shock. By taking advantage of differences in thermal expansion between clay and glaze, Anne-Marie achieves a multitude of cracks in her glazes, giving a 'graph effect', which is then embellished with onbglaze colors to get a raku-like look. These works are mostly hand-built.
While this is not the only work which can be seen on the ImagineCeramique site, these French Ceramic Artists can be seen as typical of the 'French style'.
