“Sculpture occupies real space like we do . . . you walk around it and relate to it almost as another person or another object.”  Chuck Close

The artists who make up the National Capital Network of Sculptors are passionate about sculpture and you’ll see this when you visit DIMENSIONS 2015, like the work of Alenka Paquet – Pottery and ceramic sculptor.  

How long have you been creating?  I have been working with low and medium fire clay for some 20 years. I started as a potter and was selling my functional pottery (hand build and done on the wheel) at the semiannual sales with the Ottawa Guild of Potters. Later on I focussed on using clay for sculpting natural objects, namely trees.

What inspires you to do what you do?  My art reflects a relationship between myself and nature, specifically trees. I am inspired by the structure of trees, the beautiful twists and bends of the branches. I mold and sculpt clay in an attempt to reveal the unique beauty of these resilient organism, creatures that are fundamental to our survival on the planet.

Artist’s Statement                                                                                                                    My art suggests that we cultivate a more complex relationship with the nature: rather then to see nature only as poetic, serene, there is a new posture emerging at the present time: it is a call to protect and preserve the beauty around us.