Chiara Bonato is a ceramic artist based in Limoges, France. Her abstract sculptures are constructed in stoneware using the colombin technique and stamping. The relationship between space, form, and color is central to her work.
She studied art and ceramics at the National School of Art and Design, Limoges, between 2015 and 2020. There, she discovered different craft techniques and materials, but she was immediately attracted by the plasticity of clay and the infinite possibilities of ceramics. Chiara also studied ceramics at the Maison de la Céramique du Pays de Dieulefit for 14 months.
Since 2021, she has participated in several exhibitions in museums, galleries, and ceramics festivals, including The European Terralha Festival in France, the collective exhibition Le Grand Tour in Riom France, and an exhibition at the castle of Saint Germain des Près in Dordogne.
In 2023, she participated for the second time in the ceramic exhibition C-14 and was awarded the prize of the Art Gallery. Her work has recently been exhibited in the Design sur Tables exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design, Moulins, France. Chiara also teaches ceramics at the Art School of Châteauroux, France.
Visit Chiara Bonato’s website and Instagram page.
Featured work
Selected works, 2021-2023
The urban space, volumes, and landscapes stay etched in my memory and build a formal vocabulary that inspires me. I often start with many drawings, which transition to volumes. In my work, we usually find elements that remind these relations to the world: explicit correlations and plays on tensions or balance. I juggle between cogency and rupture, playing with the rigidity and suppleness of clay.
My ceramics are a meeting of color, texture and volume. The immediate effect of color and material in relation to form induces a wide range of suggestions
I want to appeal to the senses and give the illusion of the light, the heavy, the soft, and the hard while exploiting the potential of the ceramic material. The shades of colors and the different textures supply this reflection around these sensations. The glazes are generally applied as monochrome layers.When placed in space, the sculptures find their new context in places and, therefore, produce a new meaning. My work leaves room for astonishment. The isolation and juxtaposition of the sculptures in the space create a continuity of formal elements, which are the support of our own projections.
