Anne Mortier

Anne Mortier was born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1956, where she studied art history, then practiced pottery and followed art classes at Luca School of Arts. She was a passionate ceramics teacher for several decades at the KA! School, in Eeklo.

Mortier works have been exhibited nationally and internationally and were rewarded in Europe, Asia and America. She now lives in a little town in the north of France.

“After working with clay and porcelain for more than 40 years, I’m still amazed by these wonderful materials. I like the whiteness, the purity and the soft touch when manipulating it. Amazingly, one can create tender-looking forms that are completely vitrified at the same time. The possibilities porcelain offers are huge, which motivates me to push boundaries. I like to experiment, search and rethink the whole process and start from scratch. The journey is important, the discovery exciting. I’m addicted!

Nature is my inspiration but there is no typical form I prefer; each piece is unique. I work around specific themes like the color (my favorite being blue), all kinds of textures, shrinkage of different clays, light, and motion.

My latest shapes are three-dimensional translucent watercolors inspired by the sea. They subtly capture light revealing the connection between the inside and outsight of the form. In these pieces, experiment is crucial. The way I place the forms in the kiln defines the distortion and altering of the forms. Gravity is working while the clay is weak during the firing process. I embrace the fire taking over, hand over the piece, and release it. If I’m lucky, the white gold has become a beautiful vitrified material and reveals itself at its best. Porcelain is frail and brittle like life itself.”

Visit Anne Mortier’s website and Instagram page.