Krisztina Cazes Ceramics
Clay as Therapy, Art for Growth
Bio
My journey with ceramics began unexpectedly at five years old, standing inside an art exhibition. I can still vividly recall the overwhelming impulse to reach out and touch the forms. That early calling shaped my entire life, driving a lifelong exploration of what clay can communicate.
While I was usually a highly talkative child, the raw, narrative presence of the sculptures at this exhibition struck me into absolute stillness for hours. When I finally spoke, I declared:
“I know what I will be when I grow up! I will be Kovács Margit!”
Her work left an indelible mark on me, and although that artistic calling was delayed by a painful and traumatic childhood, the memory of the museum remained. At eighteen, I felt the call again. By the time I turned twenty, working with raw clay had become my vehicle for survival. It allowed me to structurally process my reality, claim my independence, and form a new beginning for my life.
My formal studio path launched in 1995 in Budapest, Hungary, where I trained in traditional European techniques under ceramicist Anna Borbás. In 1998, I integrated into the classic British studio pottery tradition, working alongside Fiona Hendy, the resident potter at Childswickham House Pottery Studio in the Cotswolds.
My early work was focused on sculpture and over time this foundation developed into creating functional, hand-built pieces that feature sculptural storytelling but are meant to be lived with, held, and read like small narratives. Eventually, porcelain opened up another avenue of exploration, and from there I pursued more textural ideas. I love to experiment until each technique reached its fullest expressive potential. That said, more recently, teaching others has directed me to slow down, deepening my technical appreciation for clay’s structural boundaries and also its therapeutic capacity to heal.
Today, my interdisciplinary practice explores the boundary where physical matter meets the written and spoken word. My current work follows two distinct yet connected paths: abstract compositions that reduce sensation to its essence, and impressionistic pieces that capture visible traces of place and time. Both paths draw inspiration from poetry and experience to explore the human journey – pain, loss, resilience, and hope.
I treat abstract clay forms not merely as objects, but as vessels explicitly designed to contain, reflect, and amplify poetry and deep, encouraging literature. My process remains meditative, intuitive, and deeply personal. I am creating pieces that illustrate various aspects of life; some aspects that are expressible through the written word, and some which are not. By embedding fragments of poetry directly into tactile structures, I invite the viewer to slow down, step into an intimate space, and experience a multi-sensory dialogue of survival, resilience, and meaning.