Claire ROGER

"I would like to create paintings filled with many things—with every contradiction. With the unexpected."
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva

Through works that speak subtly to both the heart and the mind, Claire Roger invites us to unleash the imagination. Her ceramics—bottles, dishes, and sculptures—crafted from coloured clays are objects of contemplation, offering a true escape from everyday life.

Exquisitely refined, they evoke a rare sense of beauty. Claire Roger's technique is highly distinctive: the clays are coloured throughout their entire body before being cut into countless small pieces, which are then assembled with extraordinary patience to create each object. Art and imagination complete the process.

What makes her work so remarkable is that the decoration and the structure of each piece are one and the same. The decorative effects produced by this marquetry of coloured clays evoke the richness and preciousness of fine mosaics. Through ceramics shimmering with countless subtle nuances, Claire Roger plays with our emotions and dreams, creating poetic landscapes in which the viewer can wander endlessly.

Claire Roger practises ceramics in a way rarely encountered. Her work is entirely unique, born of exceptional technical mastery and extraordinary creative inspiration.

Claire Roger's artistic approach is a true graphic adventure, developed through the use of coloured clays whose singularity lies in the simultaneous treatment of colour, pattern, and volume.

Her creative imagination was nurtured during her first two years at the École des Beaux-Arts in Amiens, an experience she remembers with great gratitude. She was a student of Bernadette Lhôte, whose remarkable teaching encouraged her students to broaden their artistic horizons with subtlety, never imposing a particular direction or method.

She later continued her studies under Yves Broda at the École des Beaux-Arts in Le Mans, where she enjoyed three years of complete artistic freedom, experimenting with clay in every conceivable way until discovering the combinations, techniques, and principles that would define her own artistic language.

Claire Roger eventually decided never again to separate colour from material, allowing the graphic quality of her compositions to emerge directly from the clay itself. The reds, yellows, and whites originate from three naturally coloured earthenware clays, while additional hues are obtained by kneading white clay with carefully selected metallic oxides to create an exceptionally rich palette.

She then layers strips, filaments, and slabs of coloured clay, slicing and recombining them in endlessly inventive ways, transforming them into intricate laminated patterns reminiscent of mille-feuille pastry. This process creates kaleidoscopic compositions of extraordinary complexity and originality.

Once composed, these "textiles of clay" are shaped in sections using a variety of moulds. Each element of the work is prepared separately before being meticulously assembled. At this final stage, every joint is enriched with decorative collars, clasps, and brooch-like details fashioned from leftover fragments, ensuring that none of the original material is wasted. The firing permanently unifies the entire composition, preserving forever the harmony between colour, structure, and form.

(Source: Jean Jacquinot)

Today, Claire Roger's works are represented in numerous public and private collections and are held by many museums in France and abroad.

 

Claire ROGER

Represented in numerous museums in France and internationally.

Below is a short video illustrating the extraordinary craftsmanship and remarkable creative process behind Claire Roger's unique ceramic works.