Colours of The Seasons

The Works of Maria ten Kortenaar

Maria ten Kortenaar: Flowerbomb Purple

Internationally recognised ceramicist Maria ten Kortenaar started her creative path as a goldsmith, but once she encountered clay in 1995, she became devoted to porcelain.

Porcelain is a medium that allows her to express what she perceives, feels and experiences in everyday life. Happiness, sunsets, rainy days, seasons and landscapes observed in real life all find their way to her creations. Even her cat features in her pieces—recently, she has included its tail as a motif. Inspired by the cat’s character, she calls this series Curiosity Kills the Cat.

Maria ten Kortenaar: Curiosity Killed the Cat

The titles of Maria’s pieces are links to personal memories and places. The Flower Bomb series, for instance, was a response to visiting Wakehurst Place in Sussex and seeing the stunning explosion of flowers. Continuing her fascination with flowers, a recent visit to Musée Marmottan Monet inspired her Waterlilies works.

She works on small sections like a jigsaw puzzle, meticulously creating a bigger picture, piece by piece. The intricate patterns are visible inside and out using a technique called Nerikomi, also known as Neriage. Developed in Japan, it is a process that involves colouring and cutting clay, stacking it and either moulding it, hand building or throwing it on a potter’s wheel.

She talks of two distinct layers in creating her ceramics—the Visible Layer and the Emotional Layer.

The Visible Layer refers to the form, which are simple cylinders to emphasise the many colours. She says—

“The cylinders are built up from smaller fragments. To draw the attention of the viewer, I disturb the pattern. There is harmony, and there is disharmony created with a rhythm. This uneasiness catches the eye”.

Whereas with the Emotional Layer, colours and composition are applied to tell a story—the white porcelain serves as a sheet of paper on which her narrative is written. Maria aims to translate her inner life so that it becomes visible to others.

Maria is a widely celebrated artist whose work has been exhibited extensively worldwide and is held in museum collections. She has won and been shortlisted for competitions in China, Korea, Japan, Holland and Taiwan.

Maria ten Kortenaar: Water Lily II