EXCLUSIVELY FOR STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN
ON VIEW NOVEMBER 2024 AT STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN NEW YORK GALLERY
UNIQUE WORK
SIGNED, SERIAL NUMBER AND CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
YEAR 2024
BURNISHED HAND SCULPTED TERRACOTTA
| IN | H | 20.4 | W | 11.8 | D | 6.2 | ||||
| CM | H | 52 | W | 30 | D | 16 |
HAND SCULPTED IN CHILE
AVAILABLE
DETAILS
BIOGRAPHY
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STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN
Soledad Christie
Born Viña del Mar, Chile, 1962
A Chilean artist, Christie creates one-of-a-kind, handmade, sculptural vessels deeply rooted in the ancestral Pre-Columbian pottery tradition, including its ancient shaping, burnishing, and firing techniques. Surrounded by the vast, extraordinary landscape of San Pedro de Atacama, where she lives, Christie draws upon the sublimity of nature and the legacy of indigenous artisans who, for centuries, lived in concert with the natural world. On ongoing conversation with clay, Christie’s work is a sensory expression and emotional experience, capturing something ineffable about the vastness, solitude, and silence of Atacama desert and Altiplano territory
Combining that premodern heritage with a contemporary vision, Christie conceives of her artistic process as a durational practice: it is in the slowness of building each piece — resisting our obsession with speed and efficiency in a post-industrial age — that she recovers something vital about our shared humanity. Through that creation process, she finds a sort of rhythm between volume and form, stillness and movement, balance and tension
Using the traditional techniques of pinching, coiling, and paddling, each work is burnished with a small river stone several times during the drying process in order to achieve a tactile surface. Each work then undergoes two firings: a low temperature gas kiln firing and a traditional open sky firing, using llama and goat dung as fuel
Despite training as a graphic designer, ceramics became Christie’s primary artistic language. She trained with master ceramicists Luis Aracena and Tatané Durán, and drew inspiration from Isidora Ayavire and her traditional desert firings. Soledad received the Craft Seal of Excellence from the chilean Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Heritage in 2013, 2015, and 2020. Her work is in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum in Santiago, Chile
Studiotwentyseven
Unique Works
Revealing a profound connection between Christie, the natural world, and ancient traditions, each ceramic work is a testament to the stark and evocative landscape of the Atacama desert, a place where silence and vastness shape a deeply intimate relationship with nature. This arid and seemingly barren land, with its open expanses and minimalistic beauty, is reflected in the pure, sculptural forms of the vessels, which capture both the stillness and the subtle vitality of the desert
Inspired by the spiritual force and sculptural presence of Pre-Columbian monochrome ritual vessels, the works in Christie’s collection are a modern interpretation of ancient craftsmanship. Her process, rooted in the tactile and meditative act of shaping clay by hand, is a deliberate embrace of slowness and presence. The vessels are built layer by layer, where thin sheets of clay are gradually molded, allowing Christie to explore both the inner space of the object and the outer, tactile surface. This duality—of the unseen interior and the visible exterior—mirrors the hidden depths and stark openness of the desert itself
The forms emerge intuitively, guided by the natural rhythm of the lines and the balance of each silhouette. These vessels, though sculptural, retain a sense of functionality, much like the ancient vessels that inspired them. They are also deeply personal, each work a quiet expression of Christie’s lived experience in the desert, capturing the flow of nature, the subtleties of light and shadow, and the connection between earth and hand
The surface of each vessel is left bare, allowing the natural texture of the clay to speak. This raw materiality, coupled with the monochromatic palette, evokes the weathered stones and muted tones of the Atacama Desert. The interplay between the smooth, curved forms and the irregularities of the handmade process creates a sense of balance, grounding the work in both tradition and contemporary practice
These vessels, like the desert itself, hold a silent story—one of timeless beauty, spiritual depth, and the enduring relationship between humanity and the earth. Handcrafted in Chile by Christie, each work is unique and is exclusively for STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN
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