Meet Lena - a ceramist, maker and Spanish speaker.
Lena's ceramics is bright and seems to be minimalistic, but I was really surprised to realize all the layers of personal thoughts behind. Combining gentle flowers, simple shapes and aunt's jokes in an old family house, Lena going really fast from yesterday student to professional artist.
Lena believes she is a lucky person and it is important to be lucky in ceramics because of all the factors of technology.
Lena started art studies right after school, she chose BHSAD bachelor degree. It was an impulse and a recommendation from a friend. During her bachelor Lena realized that she was into making things, creating something more material than illustrations. She accidentally walked in the ceramics workshop and stayed there.
Lena graduated this summer with a project about dacha (summerhouse with a garden in Russia). Important attributes of dacha embodied in faience and wool were placed in a decorative greenhouse. Dacha is very important phenomenon in Eastern Europe culture - it is a place to go every weekend to grow some food, and place for children games, to pick apples at autumn in huge baskets, a place to get tired but also - to drink berry tea, to hose a friend and wear old mom’s dress. All the memories are seemed to be woven gently and fixed with faience cold shiny surface.
We met at Lena’s family house outside of the city: cozy house with platbands, which, according to her father, every house should has. There is a samovar in the next room, deep snow in the yard and a lot of apple trees.
In her studio Lena combines her favorite Ikea with antique furniture she founds on the street. Also she has a nicest little thing ever: she buys the worst-looking plants in stores to save them and now she owns the collection of survivors. It’s absolutely adorable and I hope one day there going to be a forest.
Porfarfor ceramics is mostly brooches and plates now. Lena considers each plate is unique as a tattoo - all the plates are different but there is author's hand in everyone. I absolutely adore Lena's work with old shapes: finding bottles at the flea markets, she makes ceramic copies of them, rethinking old iconic shapes in new context and new material.
When I asked Lena, how she defines herself, she told me that she is strong person. I absolutely agree. But I also think that I saw a lot of tenderness and openness in her dances:)
Studio is a photo project to share great people who creates and amazing places where art is created. From the childhood I have enormous love to all art-related pieces of Earth, and I want to share this feeling.
