AT THE CONVERGENCE OF FORM AND FLOW: CHRISTINE LOUVIAUX’S CERAMIC SCULPTURE

We are thrilled to unveil a new series of abstract sculptures by Belgian ceramicist Christine Louviaux. Inspired by the aesthetics and philosophy of wabi-sabi, her corpus of works embraces the beauty of earthiness, vulnerability, and irregularity, presenting a raw and dynamic texture and encouraging tactile exploration

Overall cangiante, the sculptures embody simplicity in their forms—rounded, convoluted, or pierced—delving into the essence of weight and equilibrium. In the artist’s view, they serve as an expression of the human and social constructs that shape our living, symbolically emphasised by elements of geometry. Within these art objects lies a harmonious interplay between austere and organic movements, evoking parallelisms with the complexity of humanity in terms of vibrancy, openness and constant transformation.

Each sculpture reveals the deep imprints of the artist's tools—continuous, parallel, and circular lines that echo the traces left on a cultivated earth. Each one tells an ancient story, rich with signs, cracks, and marks—a relic from another time, possibly another world—capturing the dialogue between matter and mystery, gesture and memory.

"Each piece is built along the paths of formation and deformation, as the events occur. The creative process comes more from unexpected encounters than from mastery of the material in my hands."

The sculptures on display at KALPA represent an evolution in Christine’s artistic practice. By engaging with solid, unrefined materials and deliberately minimising glaze, she ventures into new creative territories. Earlier in her work, she used Anagama kilns. Now she focuses on charcoal firing in a kiln she constructed herself in her garden. This change has allowed her to reconnect with the elemental force of fire in a wholly autonomous manner. The firing process at high temperatures produces a combination of both smoke and non-smoke effects.

Working with the charcoal firing kiln brought Christine to discover, quite naturally, kurinuki, the time-honoured Japanese technique of carving clay. This technique, translated literally as “to hollow out", dates back to Medieval Japan, where it was used to make ceramic objects for the tea ceremony. 

Unlike other ceramic techniques that involve modelling or turning, Christine excavates the block until the piece is shaped. Each scratch, indentation and soft stroke of the chisel becomes a mark of authenticity and of the passage of her hand. The focus of the artist lies in the act of discovering the sculpture, carving out the excess material and revealing step by step the hidden form inside the block of clay.

"I began working with ceramics, as I felt the need to express, beyond the fragility and suffering, the beauty of life, its resilience, the emergence of transformation, the vital energy of which I am a privileged witness."

"In my creative practice with ceramics, I cut, I trace, I make angles, I polish, and I scrape. That's what human structures are for me."

Christine Louviaux began her artistic journey in the medium of ceramics in 2013, at the time she was building her house in the Belgian countryside. Her academic and professional background as a systemic therapist deeply informs her creative work, particularly the studies of the body-mind relationship, illustrating the ongoing dance between dualistic and holistic philosophies throughout history. Her artistic research investigates the shifting perspectives of these conceptions within Western society, alongside the pervasive sense of disconnection and hierarchy between people and the natural world. In her work, Chrtistine aims to transcend this ongoing alternation and establish a new perspective.

The artist creates in a studio nestled in her cherished countryside home, a place imbued with familial history. The open landscape and her flourishing garden continuously inspire her ceramic work. Just as she blends wild and structured spaces in her garden, Christine’s approach to clay reflects her values and ethics. During the last decade, she immersed herself in a variety of professional training workshops, honing her skills in modeling and firing techniques, including raku, oxides, and pit firing. As an emerging figure in contemporary ceramics, Christine has recently participated in several group exhibitions and events, including the Wabi-Sabi Lab at Domaine de Quincampoix, the Naori Eco-Art Festival in Montigny, and the International Ceramics Market in Andenne, all in 2024.

"The landscape opens every evening, there's the sun setting over the hill and I think it's also to do with who I am, which is a great openness to others."

C R E D I T S :

Photos of Christine Louviaux at her studio: photography by Florian Caseau, courtesy the Artist

Quotes: Christine Louviaux

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