beatrice

The artist known as Beatrice believes there is a lot of beauty in imperfection. So the South Carolina ceramic artist purposely highlights it in her sculptural work.

Artist: Born in France, Beatrice grew up in Grenoble in the Alps but migrated to the United States in 1987 for graduate studies in environmental and urban design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She worked in Boston for a couple of decades until she and her family moved to London in 2008. They returned to the United States in 2015 and settled in Charleston, her husband’s hometown.

Company/studio: Beatrice’s company, Beatrice Bazaar, is based in Charleston, SC. The artist splits her production between a studio cooperative for her ceramic work and her home for the wood and nature fragments assemblage.

In the beginning: As an urban planner, her work tended to focus on long-term projects defined by politics and community, but she needed to channel her creative energy with short-term, more playful projects.

So at first Beatrice tested several crafts on the side, such as jewelry making (she trained as a silversmith in London), training as a chair upholsterer, and taking classes in ceramics at local adult workshops over the years.

She decided to focus on ceramics in 2015 after the move to Charleston.

Art & materials: Three collections of sculptural, non-functional vessels made using various commercially available clay bodies and glazes ($250 to $1,000).

In her hand-built work, Beatrice experiments with different type of clay tones, white, black and red, to reflect the varied nature of the soil and mainly uses speckled clay to emulate sand.

Before finalizing a piece, which is often left rough and unpolished, she adds natural elements (driftwood, grasses) or materials, such as rusted nails and hemp.

Inspirations:

A life-long exploration into the imperfections and uncertainty of life.
Climate and environmental changes, from which beauty and renewal arise.
The Bronze Age when humans started to use clay, rocks, bronze and gold in developing craftsmanship.
The 1960s and 1970s Arte Povera, the Italian movement that focused on 3D forms and nature, often mixing everyday materials with natural fragments.
British installation and performance artist Chetwynd, who frequently changes her first name.

Recent project: A fourth series of wall sculptural objects that she might name “Dune Crawlers.”

What’s next: “Beyond the Canvas ll,” a 3-D art show, Nov. 21-23 at the Cannon Street Arts Center in Charleston.

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