Lana Trzebinski has hand-crafted a series of 20 new ceramic sculptures, employing her signature glazing technique. Trzebinski's artistic practice is a fusion of nature's inherent geometric patterns and the intricate medium of ceramic sculpture. Each multi-textural piece, sculpted from African rich red clay, reflects upon the sacred forms and patterns found in the natural world and provides a distinctive perspective on the intersection of nature and imperfection. The artist’s practice has been informed by a fascinating blend of precision and unpredictability. Trzebinski methodically prepares her own glazes, a complex task involving countless powders, myriad experiments of infinite possibility and meticulous testing. However, the artistic alchemy occurs in the kiln, where each glaze reacts uniquely with the sculpted form. Some glazes may transform unexpectedly in the heat, introducing an element of chance into her work. Trzebinski views these imperfections as gifts, adding to the enchantment of her sculptures.

The Fractal series harmoniously combines smooth, rippled and jagged textures with a diverse range of forms that include slender and bulbous shapes with varying heights. Across a colour palette of deep teals, soft blush pinks, midnight and pastel blues, earthy sage greens, and serene stone white; glossy and matte finishes accentuate the tactile objects.

As in the human heart, so in nature – beauty and the divine are often revealed in the gifts of imperfection. This is the limitless creative space in which Lana Trzebinski’s inspiration from nature’s geometric patterns and forms, intertwines with the infinite possibilities of artistic accident, to create unique organic ceramic sculptures.

Through her hands moulding Africa’s rich clay, each piece reflects sacred natural forms and patterns. These are then transformed by her personal alchemy, utilising beautiful individually mixed glazes into sculptures that manifest the magical moment of accident and the enduring beauty of imperfection.

“I think sometimes words are brutal and deficient in describing the unknowable miracles of the creative process,” she says. “What I do know, is that in my studio there is some order being created out of chaos. A place of calmness, clarity and healing where natures organic patterns and working with ones hands and individually mixed glazes without any certainty of the exact result, makes these pieces imperfectly perfect – like us”.

Like many who call Africa home Lana has had more than her fair share of personal tragedy. Rather than her experiences overshadowing the work, her art transcends over the vicissitudes of her life story, entering into an alchemic space where the divine essence of nature, is fused with human hands moulding the life force of the earth and the delicate and complex mixing of the infinite possibilities of glaze. Nowhere is this redemption more apparent, than in Lana’s light infused white studio – part refuge and retreat – part healing anvil on which are forged new works which birth with enigmatic life force.

“This studio and this work is my world and mine alone,” she says. “I know who I am here. I am known in a self-created and organic identity not linked to any outside person or any event but to a pure, innocent and ultimately private place of ever expanding magic, mystery and creation. I feel strongly that my work doesn’t have to be explained or constrained by words. What words, after all, can come even a fraction close to describing the feelings we have when we see the beauty of a flower?”

If fractal geometry and nature’s organic shapes are an inspiration, and Africa’s rich red clay is the material form, then the final piece of the artistic alchemy comes in the glazes. Lana mixes her own glazes – hundreds and hundreds of powders blended, formulas tried and tested in a myriad of experiments of infinite possibility, with meticulous notes and tables kept in leather bound books. However, no matter how much testing, Lana can never be sure of the final result of how each individual glaze will react with each individual sculpted form in the kiln. Some glazes may bubble or drip or transform in the heat of the kiln. And so, some element of accident comes into the magical formula and the artist's ability to see whether what has been finally created is a gift of imperfection.

Short Bio:

Lana Trzebinski is a talented ceramic sculpture artist who was born in Kenya in 1993. 

Art Foundation Course at Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts, Cambridge 2015.

Intensive ceramics course at Ceramics Sculpture Studio, London 2016.

Intensive glazing course at C.R.E.T.A, Rome 2018.

Experimental glazing course at University of The Arts London, Central Saint Martins 2018.

Lana has had two solo shows, one in Nairobi in 2019 and other in Nairobi and Nanyuki in 2020.