Artist Statement

Anima by Isa Sevrain

I come from France, and have lived in Canada for more than two decades, but my truest place of dwelling is in Art. I have been strongly influ­enced by var­i­ous styles such as Byzan­tine, Japan­ese, and Art Deco. For years I prac­ticed mime and dance. My ceramic art and mixed-media instal­la­tions are cap­tured expres­sions of these kinetic forms, keep­ing the com­po­si­tion on the edge, always in and off balance.

At the begin­ning of my explo­ration of ceram­ics, I used stan­dard tiles as a medium for draw­ing, as one would use a can­vas. The dura­bil­ity and func­tional aspects of this medium were attrac­tive to me. Lit­tle by lit­tle, I became tempted to find my sub­ject mat­ter in the raw mate­ri­als them­selves. I hand-crafted and painted ceramic tiles for my mosaic art. The clay thus added a dimen­sion to these researches: draw a line in the clay, touch it and hold it actu­ally, explore the world of form with it. Ini­tially mal­leable, the clay in the dry­ing process becomes more frag­ile. Once fired, its rigid­ity fixes the move­ment in space and time like an arrêt sur image, a glimpse of eter­nity. In my work, I try to dis­till the emo­tions that are inher­ent in move­ment: I dance with the clay, some­times com­ply­ing with its nature, some­times man­ag­ing to impose my desire for move­ment. I use colours to pro­vide a great vari­ety of effects and to bring har­mony. The appli­ca­tion of grout between each piece of ceramic con­nects their forms. As a last step I paint on the grout itself, which gives the effect of fresco.

My work is infused with a sense of humour and play­ful­ness which I hope to share. Mosaic con­tains many ele­ments of life; it is an archi­tec­ture that allows more to be built on, and on, and on.

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