Blanche de Bodinat : Talent to Capture

Auteur : Kris | 04-24-2010

A contemporary shift on traditional ceramics

It was during the “d’Après Nature” exposition, organized by Françoise Vanel in St Martin d’Uriage, that I met Blanche de Bodinat to see her new pieces.

Blanche in front of “Black Boy” (in black sandstone), my favourite during the exposition.

Blanche is our first discovery in sculptural ceramics. She is a rare pearl hidden within nature, similar to a , who finds her inspiration amongst trees, stones and small insects.

Blanche was inspired for Black Boy during a trip to Australia. This creation is her actual vision of the Black Boys’ tree trunk. This tree is among the palm tree family and protects insects from fire within the core. (The hollow portion you see in shown in the cross-cut.)

Blanche’s work is a cut above traditional ceramics that we’ve seen elsewhere and this is surely due to her previous interior design studies and experience (graduate from Ecole des Arts & Decoration in Geneva). She chooses to design around brut materials which enhance sculptural and mineral qualities.

Here is a vase with small mineral stones from Blanche’s vacation in Corsica that decorate the top border. This work was finished in a Raku oven, a technique that she learned while studying ceramics at the same art school in Geneva.

A rare and remarkable savoir-faire

“My meeting with Françoise Vanel for this event ‘d’Après Nature’ opened newer horizons for me and helped me break out of the ‘pots’ or vase pieces. I was delighted to participate in this exposition with the illustrious painter Remy Jammes whose forte is trompe l’oeil and abstract painting.”

Here are a few pieces that I had first noticed when I realized Blanche was an exceptional artist (here are two vases : stones & scales)

To be honest, I was not at all attracted to ceramics as art pieces. I thought them quite conventional pieces for the kitchen, but for a star piece? It was during another show that I was taken-aback by her “ceramic sculptures”. Blanche opened my eyes to another art form.

Blanche dares to test different techniques and masters textures.

She works primarily with black or white sandstone and porcelain, that she uses to replicate nature. Here is a collection that took the longest to bring to life ‘Eucalyptus’, as it required three different representations of the Eucalyptus flower.

Blanche created three moulds of the Eucalyptus flower that she overlaid on the sandstone urns. A very nice combination indeed.

Here are the “noiraudes” or little black bugs, of which there are 500 (Blanche wanted to produce over a 1000 but too little time !)

This show of little bugs was inspired by the children’s film “Le Voyage de Chihiro” by Hayao Miyasaki.

There are two cups assembled together with white enamelled eyes nailed in place. A final baking in the Raku oven gives the cracked impressions on the eyes. The whole noirade group represents “the cosmopolitan colours of humanity” says Blanche as there are some in different colour.

“All of Blanche’s ceramic-sculptures in sandstone give an impression of strength and fragility, Mother Nature’s metaphor”, concludes Françoise Vanel.

Don’t fall for all these pieces as most of them sold at the opening of the exposition. However, you may contact Blanche directly for her next unique pieces.

Blanche de Bodinat
www.gite-lecretduloup.com
sametblanche@wanadoo.fr