metal is clay

  On show at BEX Vintage and Mr Mansfield Vintage in downtown Calgary. I’m honoured to be sharing their art wall with Lisa Brawn’s stunning woodcuts this May--and you can find more work from local artists amongst the mid-century modern and vintage goods. It’s always fun to walk into a shop and find that you covet lots of their stuff…it’s making me feel very much at home! BEX Vintage & Mr Mansfield Vintage 1124 10 Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta, CANADA The ‘Archean Spring’ group of vessels and vases is the result of everything, everywhere seeping in as I added glaze colours to a group of hefty porcelain forms, weaving it around their intense textures. I was capturing a feeling that I, or maybe the rest of the world, might just melt or explode…listening to the news, waiting for spring.  The colours are molten, and layered—like a young Earth, back when the oceans were far more green, less blue. A period when the chemistry of colour changed through fluctuating oxygen levels, aster...

  I’m delighted to share that a collection of my porcelain vessels and vases is available from Willock & Sax Gallery in Banff, Canada  and online. Ceramic vessels allow me to create a unique form every time I work. My pieces are inspired by real and imagined landscapes, geology, deep time, and the science of our universe. I make sculptural vessels based in form and colour, functional vases inspired by my garden, and open forms that welcome food or contemplation. I build these pieces in small groups so that each one can grow at its own pace, developing the form a little and then resting the clay. As my hands shape the vessel, the warmth helps to stiffen and slowly dry the material; it’s this relationship with time that allows me to intuitively generate and capture intense textures and gestural details within the clay surface.  This collection includes unglazed vessels that focus on the natural beauty of the porcelain clay, alongside vases with lots of colourful pops of...

Excited to share I’ll be presenting an artist talk on March 28, 7pm, at North Mount Pleasant Art Centre, in Calgary. I started clay classes there in 1996, a year after I emigrated from England to Canada—it was that education and community that helped me develop the skills to set up my home studio. I’ll be diving into my process, doing some demos, and generally obsessing about all things clay (with a bit of metal sneaking in). Thank you to the Mount Pleasant Potters' Guild for the invitation--hope to see you there!

"Shimmy" post earrings in sterling silver and gold-filled chain. "Concrete & Graffiti Series". Christine Pedersen, 2024. I’m really excited to be part of a jeweller’s artist residency this November, here in Calgary, at Sparrow Artspace. Thirteen local jewellery artists have each made 5 pairs of one of a kind earrings for a gallery show, plus there will be pop-up shows throughout the month with lots more hand-made jewellery, drop-in demos of jewellery-making, and a few community workshops too if you would like to try your hand (stacking rings, dangle earrings). You can find all the details on the group instagram (@makersdozen_yyc) and Facebook pages.  “Shimmy” earrings are one of my 5 pairs in the show; I worked with a favourite theme, “Concrete & Graffiti”, named after a large cocktail ring commission I made in 2012, and inspired by the urban landscape: industrial metal, locks, links, chains, and concrete. There’s lots of richly textured silver, stro...

"Blue One". Unglazed blue porcelain vessel. Christine Pedersen. 2023. Toronto Outdoor Art Fair runs Friday July 12 - 14, 2024, and my ceramics will be available for sale exclusively online, find my profile here . I’m thrilled to have been juried into the show, and will be offering work from a few different series, with new work, and pieces from my collection that have never been shown.  Only 10 pieces can be listed online at a time, so please do email me if you see other work on my instagram or Facebook feeds that you would like to know more about.  Online sales will continue until March 2025.  Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you'll enjoy looking around at loads of great art at the show. Background Vortex vessel. Pinched black porcelain. Christine Pedersen. 2023. Originally from the UK, I’ve been making ceramics in my home studio in Calgary, Alberta, Canada since 1999. My main form is sculptural vessels, as functional and decorative centre-pieces for the ho...

Making a hand-built sculptural porcelain flower vessel: I made four short videos showing my process as I hand-built this form, and I’ve put them all on this post, in reverse chronological order. The piece was built over a 5-week period, to the constant background of news coming from the radio—I’ve shared more about my thought process, and the difficult sources that were my inspiration, at the bottom of this post.  The final video, Part 4, shows me refining the form and details, and cutting away clay supports that have cradled the vessel over the last few weeks. The vessel is now loosely wrapped under 4 layers of soft plastic, and settled in for the long, slow dry before it can be fired. Scroll down for Parts 3, 2, and 1 to see how the form was developed.  2x speed. 🎶 Judson Crane "From The Earth" Time is an essential component in building complex pieces like this; clay will soften as it is worked, and by breaking my work up into sessions of a few hours a day, it allows physi...

Over Christmas 2021, I had a little moment and bought myself a gift: christinepedersen.art —a new web-site . I’ve been watching this project evolve for quite a while, and was thrilled to see that .art was offering an easy to use pop-up artist site builder ; I finished writing all the descriptions and up-loading my images yesterday. And so today I can relax, just a little, write a blog post… OK, back to work! All the not-actually-making-new-art-jobs truly take a huge amount of time. There's shooting photography and video  - then editing the photos and video (including new #shorts on Youtube), maintaining the written statements and documentation, and making social media posts...and if I’m lucky to write some show applications and send work out into the world, I might even have a rare chance to scrub up for an afternoon and share a glass of something nice with you in a gallery!   And I’m not complaining about any of it (even when I want to drop-kick my computer off a brid...

Currently editing short “making of” videos for “Fire In The Belly”, the metal and clay sculpture I collaborated on with ceramic artist  Robin DuPont . The piece is on show at the Alberta Craft Council gallery in Edmonton as part of the Craft Collaborations fund-raising auction —40 artists have collaborated on one of a kind pieces. See more images on the @albertacraftcouncil instagram feed , or visit  www.albertacraft.ab.ca I’m always curious about how other people engage with all the delicious digital documentation that we have available to us—what impact does it have? How do other people use documentation for their own design process, and is it even necessary to them? I take a lot of video and stills as I work, for 2 key reasons: so that I can share more of the studio process, and because I find I learn a lot by looking through the camera. I think framing images on a small screen helps me to see shapes and character differently, and it has become an important design tool alon...

  Fire In The Belly. Wood-fired porcelain jar with sculptural metal crown, by Robin DuPont and Christine Pedersen. Height: 40 cm. “Fire In The Belly” —introducing @robindupontceramics and my piece for the Alberta Craft Council “Craft Collaborations” fund-raising auction. The auction is now open, with 38 artists presenting 31 unique new pieces 🎉 . I’ve been really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been making—you can find the auction catalogue here . Robin’s wood-fired ceramic jar is coiled and pinched porcelain, with natural ash-glaze from pine, fir, oak, and black poplar ash. My sculptural metal crown is recycled brass and bronze, made by hammer-forming, raising, and repoussé, with hand-chased line-work. The metal is finished with oxidizing patina, heat patina, and wax.   Each piece in the auction has an artist statement, it’s really informative to hear other people’s experiences as they challenged themselves to develop a new idea, and use their skills to deve...

“Open Vessel”, 14” long, Southern Ice porcelain. Survived the bisque firing—phew—now ready for a high temp firing to mature the clay. Everything takes time…make, dry, fire, fire again. And there’s a lot of sampling. Some pieces will unfortunately fail, but they all provide information. All this process tries to make next time go better, to feel more informed. But these are raw materials and their character changes, even with refined minerals, making ceramics a pretty harsh teacher. It's a journey, and to quote Tony Nadal, tennis legend Rafa Nadal’s uncle/coach: “Stay humble, stay hungry”. The sample: “Skiff”, un-glazed sculptural porcelain vessel, cone 10 fired, and ready to go out in the world. Skiff—deep in the kiln, in amongst endless glaze tests, on the bottom shelf of the last glaze-firing. That orange sample in the centre is incredible, going to be seeing a lot more of that colour…  

I made this video for the makeanddo virtual film festival at The Ceramic Congress 2021. It's an intro to the cheap and quick ‘jigs’—workshop devices that hold parts for you—that I made to give myself some extra hands while building “Pool”, a porcelain and metal sculpture. The sculpture is still a work in progress, I keep working on other projects and sneaking back to it, good thing that metal-work is so patient! You can watch the whole film festival on Youtube .  The film was edited by the very talented—and insanely productive—Carole Epp at musingaboutmud . Thank you Carole, awesome job! 🙏👏 Follow along with me in the studio @metalisclay on instagram   #ceramicsculpture #porcelain #themakingof #organicceramics #contemporaryporcelain #crunchyporcelain #contemporaryporcelainvessel #ceramiclife #pinchypinch #contemporaryceramicvessel #studioceramics #canadianceramics #benchpeg #benchtips #intheworkshop #wip #inthestudio #metalwork #canadianmetalsmith #vmaamember

The Beaux Arts exhibition, curated by Angela Clarke at Il Centro Art Gallery, Vancouver, was developed with the Vancouver Metal Arts Association . The work of nineteen artists is included, and I am very honoured to be one of them. Huge thanks and kudos to the volunteer members of VMAA who have managed to organize and install a professional show under the current incredibly difficult conditions. To quote from Il Centro’s web-site : As the first exhibition in our Charles Marega 150 celebrations series Il Museo at Il Centro presents Beaux Arts: An Exhibition with the Vancouver Metal Arts Association. This exhibition features the sculptural metal art form both large and small. Entitled Beaux Arts in honour of the artist style of which Charles Marega was an interpreter, this juried show integrates traditional metal work with non-traditional styles and elements, true to the Beaux Arts form. Throughout the exhibition space there is a continuous juxtaposition of traditional and non- traditiona...

The Cracks Are How The Dark Gets Out: contemporary porcelain vessel, part of my ongoing Fenestrations series. 2020 was definitely a year when the dark could get stuck inside, and as other recent life experiences have taught me, it is necessary to seize the light. I haven’t published the Fenestrations series works - yet: I want to develop a show opportunity for them. Somewhere where we can walk through the whiteness, and let the light do the talking, rays and shadows completing the forms. This is a short video introducing a favourite piece from the kiln in 2020.  No doubt about it, all this isolation is tough on everyone. I’m spending my time making, and learning: making my own studio videos, and doing more self-promotion in a time when there are so few live show opportunities (find me on instagram and twitter @metalisclay ). Artist statement follows. Hope you enjoy, and please get in touch to find out more about available work, thanks. "The Cracks Are How The Dark Gets Out" ...

One - lovely - gold ring...for C & M. 14k yellow gold. Commission. Christine Pedersen.      December 2020: the last month of a very strange year, a year full of deep reflections. I’ve been working away designing and building new work, even though shows were so limited, because it takes a lot of time to create complex pieces and I want to be ready for 2021! The garden was fantastic this year due to the gardener’s spending a lot of time in it: a stay-cation reflecting on life and the universe, grateful to be able to walk and run in our neighbourhood. I’ve also started to share my studio life on instagram —it’s been a really useful way to stay in touch with friends and see fantastic hand-made original work by fellow makers. OK…it’s actually been hard to stay focused, there is just so much beautiful hand-made work out there! It’s been such a joy to make some new friends on the way, especially while we are all dealing with such reduced contact with each other.  ...

Making: A Career in Craft is now open at the Alberta Craft Gallery, Calgary, in cSpace (the former King Edward School). Show runs September 19 - November 7, 2020 Cory Barkman and I are showing a small Plum Blossom screen, and I have three new chased and repousséd flower pendant necklaces. See more images here . Artists have contributed background writing for the show, sharing aspects of what they have learned from a career dedicated to making their art and fine craft work. I found it a really interesting read, and a great way to connect with some artists that I do not know personally: Making: A Career in Craft Exhibition Guide Alberta Craft Council also have a fabulous Craft Collaborations exhibition running - unique pieces made by member artists working together, available via an on-line auction - see the artwork here The "Making" group exhibition first opened on February 1, 2020 in the Feature Gallery in Edmonton ...And then sadly had to shut down pretty much straightaway ...

Cory Barkman’s Chinese Plum Tree Screen - which included hand-made bronze flowers by yours truly - was included in the Society of North American Goldsmith’s Jewelry and Metalsmithing Survey Vol. 2. The picture I submitted (to be found on p.180) shows a smaller project we made at 31 x 21 x 2 inches; Cory’s work is usually custom-built to suit a specific location. I previously posted a detailed description of making the bronze flowers using the ancient techniques of chasing and repoussé, and I will be making more bronze flowers soon. Hopefully there will be some left over for jewellery this time - more details to follow! Check out Cory’s functional sculpture at corybarkman.com , and please contact me if you are interested in exploring a project idea. ISBN 978-0-9988002-2-6 Order from:  https://www.snagmetalsmith.org/resources-opportunities/jams/ Copyright Cory Barkman, 2018. Image: Christine Pedersen.

She said “yes!”. It’s such a joy and a privilege to be asked to make that special ring—and this was an intriguing project right from the start: our bride-to-be had chosen her diamonds, was totally ready to have her custom betrothal band commissioned, and wanted to have no part in the design process. Just wow! The whole idea of that made me smile so much - how exciting would that be? Just waiting for that shiny surprise… 1 4k Palladium white gold cast betrothal band, with 3 princess-cut diamonds. Christine Pedersen, 2018.  Presented in hand-made ring-box, designed and built by Kelo Designs of Calgary. Kudos to Alex, the groom-to-be, for leading this wonderful task, and giving me some really good ideas about what Ali didn’t like—that was such a strong way to start a design process for you both. And cheers for the family brainstorm where I got to know Ali more as a person through all of you: we imagined what sort of ring we might create—something that could fit her per...

On his facebook page , industrial artist Cory Barkman has been sharing the journey to design and create unique hand-made furniture and fittings for a contemporary Chinese tea-room. I am going to describe more about bringing the Chinese Plum Tree screen installation into bloom, as I have the slightly scary task of making the 500 chased and repousséd bronze flowers. Chased and repousséd bronze flowers - overlaid to create the feel of the finished Chinese Plum tree branch, loaded with spring blossom. Christine Pedersen. 2017. With so much work necessary to create all the pieces, Cory has faced a serious problem - how to find enough hours in his working life to make it all: "Sometimes jobs are bigger than ourselves, and the sheer volume of work needed is more than one person can feasibly or efficiently achieve on a good timeframe”.  Cory and I have worked on a previous major project - the “Return” tree sculpture for Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation , wi...