THE CLAY the clay Art and Ceramics Studio

A large vessel is currently being created at the Ränderscheibe, a simple turntable. Peu à peu, Selma Etareri layers small clay coils on top of each other, always in a circle, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting. “This is the process that is the most meditative in my creative space,” she says. Da Loam is the dialect word for “the clay” – for the artist, the most original state of moldable earth. At the beginning for her is the drawing, from which many other things develop: organic-figurative objects and vessels made of stoneware or bronze, often inspired by the female body – each name a manifesto: “Lady with special hair,” “I am you,” or “Another Mother.”

In addition, there are large-scale wall paintings made of porcelain and dishes, ranging from everyday usability to delicate festive tableware with gold and platinum decoration. Since 2009, the artist has been dedicated to porcelain production, from design to the final touches. Especially the gastronomy counts among her clients. Etareri has been carrying her expressive language since childhood. She vividly remembers glazed, white milk jugs from which she drank buttermilk on the alpine pasture – a vessel she loved to hold in her hand so much that she later created countless variations of it.

Art was a given in her parents' house: "My father was an artist, a master turner, and a sculptor," she recounts. "The dirndl will become a ceramicist," it was said, "she can't be pulled away from the mud." Etareri is a graduate of the ceramics vocational school Stoob and the master class at the Ortweinschule in Graz. The expressive power of her works also developed from an intense engagement with dance performance and clowning. For decades, she has practiced Butoh, a Japanese dance form in which every emotional and physical state is expressed. "Do not try to be beautiful," a saying from her teacher Yumiko Yoshioka, remains significant for her to this day. Additionally, she regularly curates exhibitions and brings artists, especially from West Africa, to Graz. Over the course of her life, she has dissolved the boundaries between performance, sculpture, and ceramics, she tells: “Everything is equally valuable.”

WHAT DISTINGUISHES ME PARTICULARLY:
Craftsmanship and artistic freedom go hand in hand for me.
From unique pieces with individual handwriting to functional series for gastronomy. I offer training positions for dish ceramics and stand for a direct, respectful approach and a working environment that allows for individuality.