WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW ABOUT ME?
I can tell you that I was born in Calvados, I am from Normandy. I can also say that I live in La Manche, I am still from Normandy. This is important because I think it helped strengthen my attachment to water and the earth.
AN ARTIST IS FIRST AN EXPERIMENTER OF HIS THOUGHT...
I have always asked myself a lot of questions about everything. I sometimes make connections between improbable things, I make connections between seemingly unrelated thoughts. These connections that I make, I need to put them to the test, to experiment. And I have always created. I paint, I cut and paste, I sculpt.
I completed part of my studies in visual arts in Bayeux during a specialized section at high school where I met a wonderful teacher, Mr. Patrick Arman Savidan (now an embroidery artist). I lived in my countryside far from cities and distractions, and in the converted attic, I indulged in my passion for the arts. We had a neighbor who was a professor of fine arts, Mr. Deschamps, and who largely contributed to perfecting my vision, my way of observing and my sensitivity.
FREE ELECTRON
I didn't have the opportunity (it's expensive, it's far...) to do higher education in the arts (I focused on digital technology and pedagogy in Rennes), and I have drawn a lively spirit of freedom. I don't stop at anything, and I cultivate this distinction, this difference which makes me a free artist. I am only the product of myself.
CERAMICS IN MY ARTISTIC PRACTICE
The discovery of pottery began at a very young age thanks to a potter who gave some group lessons to children. I remembered this new horizon that opened up to me: volume!
I have always deepened my practice and wherever I have lived, I have set up a workshop. The ceramic kiln arrived at my current workshop in October 2022. It was a revelation...
I have always deepened my practice and wherever I have lived, I have set up a workshop. The ceramic kiln arrived at my current workshop in October 2022. It was a revelation...
SPACE-TIME, COSMOS, DIGITAL, MATTER...
I am fascinated by matter, by space-time and space. I admit to having a weakness for digital and as I write this bio, I am working in particular on using these technologies (augmented reality, AI, etc.) to create exhibitions where the visitor is also an actor, making part of the whole at time-T. So if you are an artist, computer genius, musician, etc., maybe we can do something together ;-)
SKETCHBOOKS FOR MY CERAMICS!
I work a lot with ceramics but often in parallel with other artistic activities, one nourishing the other. I work a lot from sketchbooks, notes, drawings, “sketchbooks” as the English call them. My ceramics are greatly inspired by my "sketchbooks" in which I explore the work of color and composition in 2D, inspired by the diverse landscapes of the English Channel and Brittany not far away. My eye constantly explores, like a permanent focus, all the materials of our daily life, it fascinates me! Furthermore, these textures evolve over time and according to place, I explore a lot this notion of space-time-presence/texture.
I am Aurélie Challes, I am from Normandy and an artist and ceramist!
