Centre Céramique Contemporaine La Borne presents three new exhibitions: Anne Deleporte: Pierres de foudre / Bernard Thimonnier: De grès à grès / Ceramics Association of La Borne: Permanent Artists
February 4 – March 31, 2023
Anne Deleporte: Pierres de foudre
Anne Deleporte graduated from the Bourges School of Fine Arts. While working in a studio in Neuvy-Deux-Clochers, she was struck by lightning. She is fascinated by the phenomena of disappearance and creates unique installations, working with ceramics, drawing and frescoes in order to push back the limits of presence. Her work consists of covering in order to reveal, distracting in order to concentrate on the strange manifestations of energy.
Alongside her painting practice, she also makes clay spindles. With their familiar shapes, her sculptures look like they have been gathered from the ground like “lightning stones” which, as legend has it, fall from the sky wherever thunder strikes. This collection of objects built up over time also calls to mind «manuports», Paleolithic objects carried around by human hands with no modification, just chosen and placed elsewhere. She recreates these dynamics here by presenting a hundred or so sculptures. Her work can be found in public collections in places like the Musée de la Chasse, the MEP, the Centre Pompidou, the Musée de l’Élysée, the Rubin Foundation in New York, the Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro and the Etruscan Museum of Cortona.
Bernard Thimonnier: De grès à grès
Bernard Thimonnier uses materials, most of which have been abandoned in our time. He brings together ironstone, clay, lead and beeswax. His work is constructed amidst a landscape that is in the process of dismantling its history of animal husbandry. Around him, farmers are reshaping the countryside, draining their land to produce more and more wheat. Then Bernard shapes the clay into blocks, the architecture onto the stone. These elevated constructions, like landmarks, seem to represent the entrance to a protected harbor. Text by Bernard David
Story of a firing
Anne Deleporte and Bernard Thimonnier have known each other for 40 years. Before they shared an exhibition together at the Contemporary Ceramics centre of La Borne, they had already enjoyed the experience of firing a kiln. They have raised the bar by choosing the option that only few ceramists would dare to tackle, firing in a traditional kiln – the 16m3 Talbot kiln!
Genesis
They first came up with the idea in 2019 in the course of a conversation «just between friends» in New York. A few months later, Bernard contacted the Talbot Workshops Association via Dominique Garet. As a ceramist himself, he has a great deal of experience of wood-fired kilns, and in particular with La Bornes traditional kilns. Among other things, he took part in the firing of the Foucher kiln in 1982, accompanied by Anne Deleporte and Bernard Thimonnier. The Association was also very enthusiastic about the idea.
Firing
The COVID pandemic meant they would have to wait until January 2023 to light the match that would spark this beautiful project into life. The expertise and generosity of Dominique Gare enabled the firing to be organised smoothly and with great enthusiasm. Buying and storing the wood, organizing teams and the space, etc. All these tasks were key to the project’s success. Don’t forget that Dominique undertook a firing of the Talbot kiln with his wife Roz Herrin in 2005. He is well aware of the difficulties of this type of kiln and the challenges it brings.
Meanwhile, Anne and Bernard were preparing the pieces that would take up about 1/3 of the space. The rest was to be divided between 26 ceramists who were to be part of this fabulous experience. Guest ceramists, members of the Ceramics Association of La Borne (ACLB), as well as young novice ceramists were to have the chance to be part of the journey and would be won over by the enthusiasm for the project. After 8 days and 7 nights of hard work and shared excitement, the temperature read 1400°C at the front and 1280°C at the rear of the kiln. The team was satisfied and waited for the work to be unloaded.
Ceramics Association of La Borne: Permanent artists exhibition
This exhibition has been conceived by the members of the Ceramics Association of La Borne (ACLB) in response to the programme of temporary exhibitions.
Since 1971, the Ceramics Association of La Borne (ACLB) has demonstrated its dynamism by organizing regular events, international meetings and exhibitions originally held in the former girls’ school, and since 2010 in the Contemporary Ceramics Centre of La Borne. Today, the Association has a membership of over 70 ceramists representing thirteen different nationalities who all live within a 35 km radius of La Borne. All of them create unique pieces, utilitarian pottery and sculptures.
Techniques and firing vary, but wood firing still has a special place, with around thirty kilns currently in operation.
The Ceramics Association of La Borne is affiliated with the Collectif National des Céramistes (“National Collective of Ceramists”). It is a member of the Ateliers d’Art de France and “devenir.art”, an association of cultural actors in the visual arts in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It works in collaboration with the Communauté de Communes Terres du Haut Berry which manages the La Borne Contemporary Ceramic Centre.
Ceramics Association of La Borne (ACLB) artists: Céline Alfroid Nicolas, Éric Astoul, Françoise Blain, Laurence Blasco Mauriaucourt, Jeltje Borneman, Myriam Bouchard, Anthony Bourahli, Patricia Calas Dufour, Fabienne Claesen, Dominique Coenen, Isabelle Cœur, Nicole Crestou, Suzanne Daigeler, Dalloun, Stéphane Dampierre, Bernard David, Corinne Decoux, Ophélia Derely, Rachid Djabela, Claude Gaget, Agnès Galvao, Dominique Garet, Laurent Gautier, Geneviève Gay, Pep Gomez, Frans Gregoor, Catherine Griffaton, Jean Guillaume, Claudie Guillaume Charnaux, Viola Hering, Roz Herrin, Svein Hjorth-Jensen, Jean Jacquinot, Pierre Jaggi, Anne-Marie Kelecom, Labbrigitte, Daniel Lacroix, Jacques Laroussinie, Christophe Léger, Arlette Legros, Dominique Legros, Christine Limosino Favretto, Claire Linard, Guillaume Moreau, Machiko Hagiwara, François Maréchal, Joël Marot, Élisabeth Meunier, Maya Micenmacher Rousseau, Francine Michel, Marylène Millérioux, Mélanie Minguès, Isabelle Pammachius, Nadia Pasquer, Christine Pedley, Lucien Petit, Jean-Luc Pinçon, Charlotte Poulsen, Françoise Quiney, Michèle Raymond, Anne Reverdy, Sylvie Rigal, Alicia Rochina, Lulu Rozay, Hervé Rousseau, Nicolas Rousseau, Karina Schneiders, Georges Sybesma, Diane Truti, Jean-Pol Urbain, Émilie Vanhaecke, Nirdosh Petra van Heesbeen, Claude Voisin, David Whitehead, Seungho Yang.
The Contemporary Ceramics Centre of La Borne (CCCLB) plays an essential, iconic role in the contemporary ceramics scene, of producing and disseminating ceramics. Its activities are focused on safeguarding, enhancing and developing the culture of international contemporary ceramics.
The Contemporary Ceramic Centre of La Borne is a cultural and tourist amenity of the ‘Communauté de Communes Terres du Haut Berry’ municipality.
The Centre’s exhibition programme is developed to be in tune with the permanent artistic presence of the Ceramics Association of La Borne, and in conjunction with all of its members. The Centre is supported by the Ministry of Culture-Drac Centre-Val de Loire, the Centre-Val de Loire Region and the Cher Departmental Council, with the support of the municipality of Henrichemont. It is a member of the ‘devenir.art’ association of cultural stakeholders in the visual arts within the Centre-Val de Loire Region.
Contact
contact@laborne.org
The Contemporary Ceramics Centre La Borne
25 Grand’ Route
18250 La Borne
France
Photos by Isabelle Martin
Those boat-like forms are wonderful – of what are they made and how? If ceramic, all the more remarkable.
They’re ceramic. We asked Anne for a comment, and we’ll be back with her reply.