Current student at Place des Arts (2025/2026 season)

Biography

I am a ceramic artist based in British Columbia, working with both functional and sculptural forms. My practice explores the relationship between form, memory, and material through hand-thrown and hand-built ceramics.

I work primarily in stoneware and am drawn to atmospheric firing, where flame and environment shape the final surface. I often combine drawing with form, leaving marks and imagery on the clay that become part of the piece’s narrative.

My work is influenced by personal experience, nature, and cultural references, including elements inspired by Persian art. I am particularly interested in themes of memory, endurance, and connection. Recent pieces explore these ideas through recurring imagery such as elephants and birds, where forms and surfaces suggest traces, remnants, and emotional weight.

Alongside my artistic practice, I work in post-secondary education. This background influences how I approach both structure and process, balancing technical control with intuition and exploration in my ceramic work.

Artist Statement

My work explores memory, emotion, and connection through ceramic form and surface. I am drawn to objects that carry a sense of time—where marks, textures, and imagery suggest something that has been held, altered, and remembered.

In my recent work, I use recurring imagery such as elephants and birds to express themes of endurance, care, and emotional weight. The elephant form, particularly in more sculptural pieces, reflects ideas of memory, protection, and the quiet strength of the matriarch. These forms often carry a sense of burden, not as a flaw, but as a meaningful presence.

The bird imagery comes from my engagement with historical Persian ceramics. In one piece, I reinterpret a drawing of a weeping bird from an ancient plate. While the image originates from the past, the act of recreating it becomes personal. I feel a connection to the unknown maker, as if the emotion carried in the original gesture continues through the material and into the present.

Reduction firing plays an important role in my work. The atmospheric effects create surfaces that feel aged, unpredictable, and grounded in time. This process reinforces the sense that each piece is not just made, but transformed—carrying traces of both intention and chance.

Through these works, I am interested in how objects can hold memory, suggest presence, and create quiet emotional connections across time.

Instagram: @elephcup

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