Dialogue with the clay
The clay, alive, vibrant and full of memory, both intimidates and guides me. Through clay and stoneware, I explore the dialogue
between materiality and time, between accident and repair, between memory and transformation. Ceramics become, for me,
a language — ameans of expressing what defines my essence.
Isabelle Nothomb
Born in Belgium, Isabelle Nothomb now lives in a charming village within the French Vexin Regional Nature Park, where she has set up her studio. A mother of four, it was only after her children reached their teens that the artist began her journey into ceramics.
Her studies in Art History and the Theology of the Arts deeply influence her practice, encouraging her to continually push boundaries in search of beauty through the interaction of the strengths and fragilities of the clay, as well as her own limitations.
From this union, Isabelle draws her strength, creativity and imagination, constantly nourished by the dialogue with the material. At each stage of the creative process, each call finds its response.
Tactile by nature, she needs to feel the clay in the palm of her hands to allow its substance to guide her. Intuitive, Isabelle embraces the unexpected, using it to provide each piece with a unique story.
For the artist, the work of the wheel embodies a quest for completeness. Between permanence and impermanence, movement and stillness, emptiness and fullness, the paradox of the circle fascinates her and continues to intrigue her, like an endless echos of her journey.
Commitments
The artist Isabelle Nothomb supports two associations as well as the Uningo Foundation.
True to her philosophy of the turning wheel, she loves the idea that her work can contribute to a better society.