No flat looking objects but three dimension creations.
No whirling but hands filled with clay. No glazing, but oxides and coloured
clay deposits. Analies Martin chooses for the unpredictable. She likes to
surprise herself and for that reason she deliberately chooses for the
unexpected in the process of producing a work of art.
Many of her objects are capricious in form or
structure. Their unruly character is reflected in relation with rocks and
mountains. Sometimes other contrasting elements are found. At times she combines a smooth surface with
some rough patches. In her work it is
evident that she feels connected with nature. Perhaps one could say that what
she retrieves from the earth – clay - she returns as an enriched personal
gift. Keeping this in mind it is
extremely fascinating to view her creations and observe the progression of this
ceramist.
She started in 1995. One of the earliest creations was
working in vase forms added with bend concrete steel. The different materials
used have a contrasting effect. Next came the objects inspired by fossils
shaped from coarse “ Chamotte” clay and finished by using ochre coloured and
black pigment. This was followed by the structures appealing hollow garden
structures. She experimented with different forms followed by round structures
with folds giving the impression of a “dressed look. “ What the eye registers
is a female figure. The original cone
has become a more squeezed shape.
Analies made scale forms with a structure of dried
soil. One of those objects has been worked with black “engobe”on red
moist clay after she worked the clay with a gut marking it with stripes. The
effect is most astonishing. It looks like the base form truly cracked.
At some time in her development she made the
transition from round to square forms. Again it is the inquisitiveness for the
unknown. Slowly but surely the concept of a house appears. She started creating
broad and low objects. She is challenged to work more into heights. The objects become higher, smaller and more
spacious. First the “homes” appear in a green cracked layer but all along the
colour diminishes and become more in harmony with nature. Later more abstract
forms were created. Houses became more like caves. They become more capricious and predictable.
The artist states:
Homes
protect people against the elements and houses give a street its character.
Behind closed doors we find emotions:
people live en fight together, children are being born and die. Much happens behind those walls and it is the
same all over the world. This aspect makes houses fascinating in whatever form
all over this world. If it is a small
tinned roofed house, high rises in a metropolis, an impressive castle along the
Loire or terraced housing in the Netherlands, everywhere people live
behind walls.
It is not surprising that Analies has a preference for
raku, a technique using sawdust and wood. Amazing color shades are created in
combination of fire, smoke and sulphate. She is ever searching in her quest for
freedom.