MUSETTE CÉRAMIQUE

Julie Deault is the artist behind Musette Céramique, Julie is currently living in Toronto, Canada.

She has spent many years weaving and working with textiles in Montréal and venturing off to study silversmithing in the mountains of Mexico before finding a passion for clay and ceramics and establishing MUSETTE Céramique.

From her tiny studio, she handbuilds sculptural vessels with coiling, slab, and pinching techniques, a slow process that contributes to all kinds of beautiful irregularities and makes each piece one of a kind.

Artist statement 
"I’m inspired by movement, textures, imperfections, but it’s really the beauty of the raw materials, the clay, that inspires me the most. When I start a new piece, I know the general direction that I want it to take, but I don’t always have a specific idea in mind. I start building and sculpting and I follow the clay’s natural movement. It’s a material that’s very much alive. My finished work is often quite different than what I imagined. I like this process because it assures that each piece is truly one of a kind. I like when things look a little bit skewed, a bit crooked, and a bit rough. This looks natural and beautiful to me. All my pieces are handbuilt with a coiling method. It’s a long process that involves rolling out coils and slowly pressing and blending them together to build up the piece, shaping and sculpting as I work. Each vessel can take up to several weeks to complete, not including the time it takes to dry slowly and then go into the kiln. I stamp the bottom of my work with a simple signature and then number each one.

For this body of work, I’ve been using white stoneware and adding a coarse grog to the clay before starting to build, which adds a lot of texture once the piece is finished. I leave the outside of my work unglazed. I don’t like using glazes to cover up the clay. There’s something so beautiful about this material in its raw state, and it also puts emphasis on the subtle curves and shape of the piece."