Urns
I find deep enjoyment making artistic ceramic funeral urns.
There are so many choices that are available to the ceramic artist in the kind of clay used, the surface treatment and the glazes applied as well as the kind of firing done. All of these elements, when well chosen, can work together to reflect the individuality and the dignity of the person for whom the urn is created. The simple, elegant forms I make on the wheel want to be touched, held, beheld. Their patinas make them look very old, which goes well with my contemplative esthetic.
Blue and white urn « Vague de mer » from the collection « Présences »
Moss green urn et orchid pot from the collection « Présences »
Each urn can be accompanied by one or more complementary pieces created in the same style. The large commemorative bowl or platter is appropriate for sympathy cards or for an act of offering at the time of the funeral. It can also have a decorative function or be hung on the wall. The flower pot, placed in the meditation corner, keeps the memory of the person alive. In the face of the feelings of loss felt by those closest to the deceased, such a continuing presence in daily life can help promote the search for new meaning in life.
All these items can have a purely decorative or even sculptural function. My hope, however, is that, for those who are grieving, their personal symbolic significance will also help bring about a quieting, contemplative state.
These urns, all handmade in Quebec, respect the norms established by the Corporation des thanatologues du Québec in terms of their capacity, sealability and esthetic quality, worthy of their function.
If you would like more information, please contact me.
Pentimenti
The urns created during my artist’s residency at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society (CSRS) at UVic in 2022-2023 explore layering of ceramic materials as a way of expressing particular biographical experiences of return to spiritual roots at end of life. On the one hand, the residency involved the search for biographies of people from a variety of spiritual and cultural backgrounds. On the other hand, I was immersed in the creation of simple yet distinctive urn forms, and of course, the testing of glazes and other ceramic techniques of surface treatment. The pentimento effect, in biography as in oil painting, is the revelation of underlying layers which had been obscured or obliterated over time… only now using the ceramic medium. The results of my work were shared regularly with the CSRS community, and have now begun to be exhibited.
This project is ongoing.
Detail, Le paysage montagneux, Collection Pentimenti, 2023
Collection Asiatique
« Jomon » urn from the « Collection asiatique »
Blue ash urn from the « Collection asiatique »
Collection Présences
Brown terre à terre urns from the collection « Présences »
Moss green urn and platter from the « Collection présences »
Blue and white platter « vague de mer » from the « Collection présences »
Chinese green urn and large bowl from the « Collection présences »
Collection Shino
Textured urn from the « Collection Shino »
Large bowl from the « Collection Shino »
Urn from the « Collection Shino »
Examples of unique pieces
Blue and white jars
Paten « Méditation d'après Rublev »
Photographs © Holly Ratcliffe