Bennie

Biography of Bennie

Bennie lives and works in central France. Her training at the public classes of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges initially oriented her towards painting and drawing. It was only later that she discovered clay and sculpture and trained in the art of raku.

Through her work she explores different subjects around the animal world, the genesis or childhood. She is touched by the dichotomy of the living world where strength and fragility meet, so she has found in the apparent and deceptive fragility of raku an adequate technique to express this ambivalence simultaneously.

Techniques

Raku is a ceramic firing technique developed in 16th century Japan. The meaning of the ideogram of raku-yaki underlines the fortunate fate of the firing process. The glazed sculptures are taken out of the kiln at 950 degrees, the thermal shock produces the cracks in a totally random way. The object is then smoked, which blackens and highlights these accidents.