Portfolio
Elena Panova
A piece of clay under a rug – this is how my work starts. Slowly kneading, I feel my body relax and make sure there are no air bubbles in the clay. After forming a “bullhead,” I start to think about what I want to create today. If I’m feeling angry or sad, I use the reservoir technique, using a rolling pin to form a stratum. If I want to express love or happiness, I use the pinching technique – the way I feel the most connected to clay. Using a minimum of instruments: potter’s needles to connect different pieces, loop, wire; ribbon tools to create the texture and get rid of the clay I don’t need; a slapping tool to create the form; and sponges to get rid of water. After it’s burnt, I decide whether to use colorful glaze or paint. But usually, when I’m feeling lost, I go with glaze, and when I’m feeling determined, I go with paint because paint represents precision.
How I Make
When I lived in Israel for a year, I was entranced by the culture and colors the country offered. Wandering through Shuk HaPishpeshim, a flea market in the heart of Tel Aviv, I saw how people expressed themselves through food, paintings, jewelry, and any other form of art you could imagine. Looking for a way to express the complex feelings of finding a home in a new place, I turned to ceramics. At first, I sculpted dozens of Israeli-themed ceramics to connect with my Jewish heritage by diving into the deepest traditions of this country. This taught me that the best way to process worrisome feelings is to get to the bottom of them. Reading about Israeli holidays and recreating the images that popped into my head helped me feel related. Since then, ceramics have become my way of processing emotions, bringing me to another level of calmness and happiness.
Why I Make
I grew up in a big messy family of eight, so the sound of accidentally breaking glasses or plates is the soundtrack of my life. And when I saw the dishes break, I always thought: I am seeing the end of this piece's life. But where is the beginning? Making ceramics is the story of a piece from the beginning to the end: I take raw clay into my hands, and after a careful process of kneading, shaping, drawing, and scalding, I see how my loved ones are eating or drinking from my work. In the consumption-centered world we live in, the things we use— dishes, clothes—are like clones, they don't have any personality. When I use my hands to create something, when a cup has a small dent in it because of my clumsiness or when a plate has a small crack because of the unpredictable glaze, this something gains a soul.
What ceramics mean to me
The Most Meaningful
My plate, “Lace,” has everything I value in my art. The pattern on this plate is an imprint of old lace. This piece of lace probably doesn’t exist anymore; it may have been thrown away or recycled. Yet the clay, my hands, and the stove captured it for eternity. This plate holds the history of my creative work and delicate fabric craftsmanship. I gifted it to my grandparents a few months before the quarantine started. They live in Canada, so I couldn’t see them in person for over 18 months. Yet, during our family Zoom calls, I noticed the plate hanging on the wall behind them, a small piece of me cheering and comforting my far away relatives. Ceramics are a way of showing love and affection, even in the most challenging times.
My plate, “Lace,” has everything I value in my art. The pattern on this plate is an imprint of old lace. This piece of lace probably doesn’t exist anymore; it may have been thrown away or recycled. Yet the clay, my hands, and the stove captured it for eternity. This plate holds the history of my creative work and delicate fabric craftsmanship. I gifted it to my grandparents a few months before the quarantine started. They live in Canada, so I couldn’t see them in person for over 18 months. Yet, during our family Zoom calls, I noticed the plate hanging on the wall behind them, a small piece of me cheering and comforting my far away relatives. Ceramics are a way of showing love and affection, even in the most challenging times.
Redhead
After a big fight with my friend, I walked into the workshop looking for comfort, and the clay did its job. I wanted to recreate the bright feelings I felt during our friendship and show the audience what my friend meant to me. I used the pinching technique to feel the clay and connect to it. I wanted to embody the warm image of my friend, so I created a piece with funny freckles and gentle blue eyes. Unfortunately, when I returned to the workshop in a few days, the cup lost its eye during scalding. After working on it for such a long time, you would think I would get upset, yet, I only saw how it magically transformed into being more like her: unpredictable and versatile. The result amused me; it was like I was looking at her, not at a cup. This process made me realize that small failures only make the outcome more vested and exciting. I called her right away because, just as with this cup, our fight made our friendship deeper and more beautiful.
After a big fight with my friend, I walked into the workshop looking for comfort, and the clay did its job. I wanted to recreate the bright feelings I felt during our friendship and show the audience what my friend meant to me. I used the pinching technique to feel the clay and connect to it. I wanted to embody the warm image of my friend, so I created a piece with funny freckles and gentle blue eyes. Unfortunately, when I returned to the workshop in a few days, the cup lost its eye during scalding. After working on it for such a long time, you would think I would get upset, yet, I only saw how it magically transformed into being more like her: unpredictable and versatile. The result amused me; it was like I was looking at her, not at a cup. This process made me realize that small failures only make the outcome more vested and exciting. I called her right away because, just as with this cup, our fight made our friendship deeper and more beautiful.
Little Nests
My favorite way of starting a family dinner is to serve bread with many different sauces. But, every time, I had trouble with finding the right serving dishes for the sauces: they all were too small for the dishwasher and would fall through the tiers. After another exhausting cleaning, I decided that I had to do something. Why not use clay to solve the problem? The next time I was at the workshop, I created a saucer, consisting of
four mini-bowls and decorated it with two little birds on the side. Singing sauces! From this experience, I saw how creativity prompts exciting solutions not only in science but in everyday life too. Ceramics not only help with processing emotions but also transform my home into an artistic, cozy, and welcoming place. Even though I admire the works of other artists that are made just as decorative pieces, I value the functionality of my creations, because it brings purpose to my work and benefits others.
My favorite way of starting a family dinner is to serve bread with many different sauces. But, every time, I had trouble with finding the right serving dishes for the sauces: they all were too small for the dishwasher and would fall through the tiers. After another exhausting cleaning, I decided that I had to do something. Why not use clay to solve the problem? The next time I was at the workshop, I created a saucer, consisting of
four mini-bowls and decorated it with two little birds on the side. Singing sauces! From this experience, I saw how creativity prompts exciting solutions not only in science but in everyday life too. Ceramics not only help with processing emotions but also transform my home into an artistic, cozy, and welcoming place. Even though I admire the works of other artists that are made just as decorative pieces, I value the functionality of my creations, because it brings purpose to my work and benefits others.
The Closed Wave
As I spent months preparing for the National Economics Olympiad, I felt tired of the structured and organized problem-solving methods. That’s how my series of strangely shaped objects began: I rolled out the clay and divided it into pieces. Then, I connected them the way the clay wanted; I didn’t really shape anything, I just let the clay go and form itself. To let the clay go, I would add water to it, so it would become more elastic and then lay it on any bumpy surface: this way, it gains its own intricate shape, and then I would connect the ends to form vases or pots. Yet, after a long time creating such pieces, I started to miss the order and the structure, making me realize that besides being a tool for processing emotions, ceramics also bring balance into my mathematical life. I can’t do one without another because they perfectly complement each other.
As I spent months preparing for the National Economics Olympiad, I felt tired of the structured and organized problem-solving methods. That’s how my series of strangely shaped objects began: I rolled out the clay and divided it into pieces. Then, I connected them the way the clay wanted; I didn’t really shape anything, I just let the clay go and form itself. To let the clay go, I would add water to it, so it would become more elastic and then lay it on any bumpy surface: this way, it gains its own intricate shape, and then I would connect the ends to form vases or pots. Yet, after a long time creating such pieces, I started to miss the order and the structure, making me realize that besides being a tool for processing emotions, ceramics also bring balance into my mathematical life. I can’t do one without another because they perfectly complement each other.
Portfolio
lenka.penka5713@gmail.com
