Name: Black clay candle holder
Brand: CECILE TISSOT
SKU: 43
Price: 65.00 EUR
Availability: OutOfStock

MEET THE ARTIST

CÉCILE TISSOT

Visual artist, creator of art objects, Boulogne-Billancourt (92)

Cécile takes us into her world, revealing her desire to "restore a whisper of sacred language, which would invite the world of forms to enchant everyday life."

See his Artist page All ceramics

Tell us your story, how did your vocation come to you?

I have always loved expressing myself artistically, drawing, painting... coming from a family of artists, I was encouraged in this. I first went to business school and worked in humanitarian aid, before changing course at the age of 30 to train as a sculptor and become a professional artist, which is a vocation to renew every day.

How would you describe your style, your artistic approach, in a few words?

I seek a direct and sensitive dialogue with raw materials, which I also juxtapose with one another. Earth, wood, stone, pigments, wax, plaster, natural elements gleaned from nature: all these mix, repel, scrape, and carve, and I strive to imbue matter with a breath of balance and silence. My work is prolific, fueled by the allure of new discoveries, a process that takes on multiple forms and formats, culminating in creations expressed in various media: sculptures and installations, sometimes participatory, drawings, paintings, and art objects. I try to capture a whisper of sacred language, inviting the world of forms to enchant the everyday.

What themes or subjects inspire you most in your work?

I am inspired by the role of art in stirring the soul, those little shivers that connect us to larger spaces. For example, since 2005 I have been working on the theme of empty oratories, on the relationship between emptiness and its contour in a sacred context.
In my inspirations, I am touched by the ability of Marian Zidaru, a contemporary Romanian sculptor, to speak of fervor through wooden installations and inhabited representations, by the physical attraction produced by certain hollow sculptures of Anish Kapoor, or by the rediscovery in 1900 of Romanesque religious sculptures from the Val de Boi in Catalonia.

How do you work?

I share a space in Montreuil where I work most of the time; it's a very intimate place where I retreat. I also work in a studio in Aveyron, for periods of immersion in nature. The work flows smoothly: since I lack time to create, the studio space immerses me directly in the work. A cup of tea, some music, I dive back into my sketchbook to pick up where I left off, and quickly, I'm working with the materials.

Do you have a particular technique, a specific expertise? Without revealing all your secrets, have you developed your own methods and techniques?

Learning new techniques is incredibly enriching for me. I sculpt directly in stone and wood, a technique I learned at the Beaux-Arts workshops of the City of Paris. I learned clay modeling by teaching it for seven years in Paris. This year, I trained in marble stucco (a mixture of plaster, glue, and pigments) and am interested in techniques for making my own art materials, particularly colors, from natural pigments and juices extracted directly from nature.

Tell us about your daily life, your constraints, your joys, your successes…

The time I spend creating in the studio is ultimately quite limited, but that makes it precious. I'm at a stage of professionalizing my artistic practice, so I have a lot of work to set up and manage: administration, communication, marketing, responding to calls for projects or residencies... I also work part-time for an NGO and have time to dedicate to my family, so the hours I can create are limited, which creates frustration.
The joys of the moment are all the seeds planted that begin to grow... being able to exhibit and sell my art objects through this partnership with Mirette has been a joy of this end of 2023 and I am very grateful to be listed there.

Do you have a message you'd like to share, or anything else you'd like to say?

At a time when art has been reduced to something "non-essential", I like to cling to this simple and impactful quote from Dostoevsky: "art will save the world".

See his Artist page All ceramics