Poetic Ceramics by Judith Bloedjes

Artist list

Judith Bloedjes

The jewelry, objects, and installations of visual artist Judith Bloedjes (1968) show a seeming simplicity and reflect the high artistic quality and great artisanal skill. She models and shapes the Limoges porcelain, which she then frames with silver. The white of the porcelain and the silver lend her monumental works an industrial yet soft appearance, resulting in a unique tone and texture. The circle and cylinder are her main forms. 

The leitmotif in Judith Bloedjes’ oeuvre is the love of beauty, plain forms, the eye for detail, the craft, and the basic material. With apparent ease, she creates a perfect balance between craft and art. The detail of the lines and ridges on her jewelry expresses the calm and precision she employs. Her work is consistently of high quality, while she constantly looks for new forms and developments that fit in the Dutch minimalist tradition. She draws inspiration from her surroundings or her travels.

When I sit at the potter’s wheel, my head and hands enter into a dialogue. Sometimes the hands come up with different ideas than the head. That moment feels timeless and still, and I search for the moment when proportions and colors are perfectly attuned when everything is just right.
(...)
I look around me and learn from what I see. In Venice, I visited the Prada Foundation, and the work on display was beautiful, but I was fascinated by the palace's skirting boards. When no one was looking I touched them, because that is how my fingers memorize the shapes. During a visit to Jingdezhen, China, I was impressed by the celadon glaze. However, the color of the glaze seemed so different when I was back in the Netherlands. That is because the light in China is warm and has a yellow-orange tone. That is why I perceived the porcelain and glazes as much warmer and deeper in China than when I was in my studio. I felt that was a great discovery, and, based on that experience, I developed my own version of the Chinese celadon, which is better suited to the light over here, and to my work. I use it to add shades and color accents to my porcelain, sometimes very dark, sometimes so subtle that it is barely noticeable.
(...)
Whether my work is large or small, it is about composition and relieved surfaces. Jewelry is intimate, you wear it on your skin, close to you. My large-scaled works are also intimate but on a different level. Less corporeal, more in the everyday environment. I think the stillness, focus and, calm that my objects exude is just what we need, in these times. To be able to breathe.
/Judith Bloedjes

In 2015, Bloedjes created a 6-meter high and over 2-meter wide mobile made of ceramics and aluminum for the Artemis Hotel in Amsterdam. But, Bloedjes not only makes jewelry and installations, the artist is also fascinated with dance and dancers, and has, in many performances, used clay on models to express her unique interpretation of the moving human body. Those movements and dance forms reoccur in wall installations and vase objects, allowing the spectator to experience a stilled movement. She developed the performance Pietà Ronde, which was performed at CODA Museum during the Keramiek Triënnale of 2018. CODA Museum first encountered Judith Bloedjes’ work in 2015, when it was part of the Keramiek Triënnale.

Judith Bloedjes’ jewelry and objects are included in the CODA collection, private collections, and museum collections in both the Netherlands and abroad. For the exhibition Poetic Ceramics in CODA Museum, she created a retrospective by selecting works from her, by now, extensive oeuvre. Besides jewelry, the exhibition shows (wall) installations, and monumental objects she used in her performances. In addition, trials, sketches, and materials that inspire the artist provide more insight into her method. 

Poetic Ceramics is not only the title of the exhibition but also that of a book scheduled to be published at the same time. With images and text, this monograph takes the reader on a tour of Bloedjes’ oeuvre, which spans twenty years and is in constant flux. 

Sources
Introduction book Poetic Ceramics. Carin E.M. Reinders, director-manager Coda Apeldoorn.
Interview with Judith Bloedjes by Machteld Leij in Poetic Ceramics.


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