Catching the Wave: Exploring the 4th Latvia Ceramics Biennale

Sanita Ābelīte: Terra

“Terra” (Latin for ‘earth’) is the latest solo exhibition by Sanita Ābelīte, and the choice of title conveys the artist’s enduring respect, affection and loyalty to the material she has been calling hers for over twenty years.

Compositionally, “Terra” celebrates multitude and diversity in colour and shape across a coherent artistic landscape, where every object has a place and role to play. “When shaping, my thoughts and ideas are free to come and go unrestrained; the process is intuitive; I’m only partly in control of how things may unfold,” Ābelīte explains.

The exhibits were created between 2020 and 2022 using clay, porcelain and chamotte in combination with different firing techniques – naborigama, raku, electric firing and gas.

A few artworks in the exhibition were made by Ābelīte at the Lode brick factory and Kuldīga Secondary School of Art and Humanities, as well as by partnering with Danute Sīle (raku) and Imants Klīdzējs who owns a naborigama kiln in Salacgrīva, while the majority was shaped and fired in the artist’s private studio – a workspace she acquired twelve ago. To quote the artist: “My studio is where I can create uninterrupted. It’s my perfect setting, complete with everything I need to make new work. All along, I keep learning new things about the material and myself. It’s an ongoing process, which makes it all the more exciting. I’m fascinated by the many ways of firing and the wealth of materials found in ceramics. My inspiration comes from nature, travel and the people that I meet.”

Sanita Ābelīte was born in Kuldīga in 1978. Having graduated from the Liepāja Secondary School for Applied Arts in 2004, she gained a master’s degree in arts from the Art Academy of Latvia (Ceramics Department) in 2010. Her dynamic creative record, ongoing since 2006, includes several solo exhibitions as well as multiple symposiums, residencies and group shows across Latvia and beyond – in Denmark, Belarus, Italy, Northern Cyprus, China and more.

Curators: Valentīns Petjko, Aivars Baranovskis