Collection: Mélina Schoenborn

Mélina Schoenborn lives and works in Montreal. After studying art history and visual arts at the Université de Montréal, she became interested in ceramics while taking lessons with Marie A. Côté. An apprenticeship in Thailand with Komol Kongcharoen allowed her to explore other types of clay. In 2017, she became enamoured with the technique of coiling which she discovered while training with the French ceramist Virginie Besengez.

The technique of coiling is a very old one and does not require the use of a potter's wheel or mold. Schoenborn’s works, made of sandstone, are sculpted by hand using clay coils placed one on top of the other. With the help of her hands and a small tool (a potters rib), Melina slowly gives life to the form of her works layer by layer. 

Schoenborn’s use of the technique however involves refining her sculptures with a scraper to reduce the thickness of the walls. How much clay can be shaved away before the wall cracks, collapses? The earth comes alive under the hands of the sculptor yet imposes its limitations, a delicate duel between the artist and her materials. 

The finished works are bare, without glaze, in a tribute to the purity of material and form; under the hand, the clay is porous, sensual, alive. The works that are born from this game seem as fragile as paper yet, sitting in their poetic and natural inclinations, occupy the space with the force of their singularity.