Mathilde Sauce is an artist whose chosen mediums are clay and glaze. These materials not only require immense effort and patience but also provide unparalleled freedom to create volume, form, and color. She was first captivated by the unique malleability of clay during her preparatory year at the Municipal School of Fine Arts in Châteauroux, France. There, she instantly recognized the boundless possibilities that ceramics had to offer. Following that formative year, she decided it was imperative to continue her studies in a school equipped with a ceramics studio. Sauce enrolled at the ENSA in Bourges for her initial three years of study, where she experimented with various materials. Eventually, she focused her artistic energy solely on stoneware sculpture and concluded her formal education at the ENSA in Limoges.
To further refine her skills, she completed the “Ceramist” course offered by the Maison de la Céramique du Pays de Dieulefit in the Drôme Provençale region. This training gave her the independence to work with diverse methods of shaping clay, including stoneware and porcelain, and mastering multiple glazing and firing techniques. Today, Mathilde Sauce manages every stage of her artistic process— from shaping to firing and even creating her own unique glazes— in her Limoges studio. Her ongoing research continually leaves her more amazed and inspired each day.
Visit Mathilde Sauce’s website and Instagram page.
Featured work
Selected works, 2022-2023
I have always been drawn to organic and anthropomorphic forms and attracted to mysterious, whimsical universes. I am fascinated by the way imagination and the living intertwine, as seen in the works of artists like David Cronenberg, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Ernst Heackel, to name a few. It was only natural that I turned to working with clay and later, glaze. The infinite possibilities of ceramics allow me to create an ever-expanding range of forms, textures, and materials. Whether unconscious or deliberate, the universe of forms I develop falls into a category already contained within the material itself, subject to changes in states of matter; that of the body, the organic, and metamorphosis. With poetry and a touch of humor, I draw inspiration from my surroundings to transport them elsewhere. The notion of biomorphism is important; the generated forms refer to something living, an image of nature in mutation, imbued with carnal sensuality. I enjoy that, through abstraction, one can discern familiar yet enigmatic forms, and that the mind wavers between a rational and an irrational explanation. At the intersection of mineral and plant life, the strangeness of the forms often contrasts with the soft, inviting textural effects, evoking childhood discoveries and inviting touch.
Transformed by my imagination, a pattern inspired by nature gives birth to a sculpture that is far removed from its original model. The material appears autonomous, developing in directions previously unexplored. The handwork, though present, fades into the background, giving way to forms that seem to be self-organized. The sculptures exhibit great diversity in technique, material, colour, and shine. There is a multitude of things to observe. The fantastic aura emanating from the sculptures seeks to capture, in my own way, the endearing and fascinating otherness of the world around us. I wish to arouse the viewer’s curiosity and invite them to question their condition and environment.
