Anna Kasabian has been working in ceramics since 2003 and began working in porcelain 10 years ago. When Kasabian discovered that she could take raw porcelain in the palm of her hand and fashion it into delicate, intricate, organic forms, her passion for porcelain ignited.
Kasabian hand-forms abstract tabletop and wall sculptures in porcelain. Early on, Kasabian decided not to work with a potter’s wheel. By shaping every sculpture with her hands she could achieve the full range of energy and expression that she was seeking.
Each sculpture shape recalls the forms and movements of flowers, sea plants and ocean waves which are on Cape Ann, her home, and where the earth and ocean meet in spectacular forms.
Kasabian’s work as a porcelain artist is an extension of her writing about interior design and architecture. Both are about making our homes beautiful and authentic. Architectural Digest has characterized her work as “the epitome of nature-inspired elegance”. That is what Kasabian works to achieve in each piece.
Kasabian frequently works with interior designers and collectors to create custom works and her work is held in both private collections and public installations worldwide.
Can you tell us about your journey into art and why you decided to focus on porcelain?
I started out working with low fire clays but I quickly realized that I wanted a clay that I could take wafer-thin into sensuous, organic shapes. That brought me to explore porcelain and that experience changed the course of my life work.
For a few years, I only made small functional sculptures and then I took on the personal challenge to hand-form larger, more complex pieces. Soon a whole new body of work came that was very well received by the public. Ironically my tiny sculptures are what comprise nearly all of my public wall commissions.
Are there any particular challenges you face working with Porcelain?
Porcelain is a difficult, fussy material in general, but is especially challenging for me because of the organic shapes I like to make. Every twist and turn and wall must be propped, and the piece dried over time with care.
It goes through the same drying phases as other clays but because I push the material to extreme thinness, and in unusual directions, I have to be very careful when I work to correct flaws. The best tools I have are my fingers. I can tell exactly how much pressure to put on the sculpture as I work to correct flaws.
Does your experience of writing several books on interior design and architecture inform your art?
Yes. Beautiful architecture and a sensitively-executed interior dovetail to tell a story and give you an intimate view of the homeowner. Art that joins that story can complement, contrast, or sometimes surprise. So I’ve never made my art for a room. I just make art that I love thinking it will find its way to one who shares my passion for that particular piece.
You work with raw porcelain, can you talk us through your process?
I always start with a ball of porcelain and go from there. The first decision I make is whether to make a wall or tabletop sculpture and the size.
If it is one of my wall pieces made up of tiny abstract flowers, I will get organized by weighing out 50 or so little balls of porcelain before I begin forming them. The idea is to hand form unique sculptures but that they relate size-wise.
Each completed form then goes onto a drying tray for 2-4 days.
If I am sculpting a large tabletop work, I cut off a big chunk of porcelain from a 20-pound log. My first decision with a large work is whether to create a vertical or horizontal piece.
Next, I begin to move it into a shape, propping every angle and wall as I work.
Porcelain dries fast and can become brittle, so I must work swiftly. And depending on the kind of porcelain I am using, I may have to cover it in multiple layers of plastic so it does not crack as it dries.
It must dry evenly and that can take 3 days to three weeks. As the days pass, the layers of plastic come off, sometimes, one by one.
This is the time I can also repair small flaws—when it’s almost dry but not bone dry.
When I shape larger pieces there is never an elaborate plan for how I will shape it. Each ball of clay is its own thing—with its own potential. That is what ignites my passion…the surprises, the unknown, and the personal challenge to see how far I can take the material.
I work with it, taking it where I can go, and knowing when to stop. The latter comes with the experience of handling it for so many years.
Once the clay is bone dry I fire it to bisque and if I am going to glaze it, I hand brush glaze giving each piece three coats.
There are certain porcelains though that I choose not to glaze because they are beautifully warm, creamy whites without glaze and being so thin, they are also translucent on the thinner walls.
Glazed or not, the sculptures are fired for a second time.
Each firing takes 2 days in the kilns because while the firing is done in several hours, the kiln doesn’t get opened until it has cooled down.
When I create a wall piece with a panel, where pieces are affixed to a wood surface, I attach a French cleat system to the back so it can sit flush to the wall.
I also hand-stain the panels and glue each piece to them.
I take the finished sculptures and lay them out on the wood panels to create interesting patterns on the surfaces. Then add glue the pieces in place.
Your work is predominantly white what is it that appeals to you so much?
I chose a high gloss white glaze for my work because it is the best colour to show off the details. Natural and artificial light both play off the white surface. The only other colour I’ve glazed with is an opalescent glaze which functions the same way.
We love your recent work which has a touch of gold leaf and blue in Cove Waves do you have plans to incorporate more colour in future work?
Thank you! I really enjoy using gold leaf, but sparingly. I may experiment at some point with colours beyond the opalescent you see in Cove Waves. But I think that might come with my developing new shapes and new themes.
You live in a very scenic part of the world called Manchester-by-the-sea, Massachusetts. How does this environment inspire your work?
This is a magnificent place to live because of the interesting topography, the beaches, rocky shorelines and beautiful gardens. All of this inspires my work.
As you will see from my website most of my abstract shapes recall ocean waves and flowers.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is in my home. It’s a workroom space with baker’s racks and trays stacked for drying sculptures. I use an antique carpenter’s storage cabinet to store all of my glazes and clay and I have invested in two kilns—one large and one small which are in a building behind my home. My basement houses my photo studio where I photograph all my work, and there is a large portion devoted to inventory storage as well. My art and daily life in the home often merge, and projects can flow through the house whether it’s a painted canvas or a porcelain project.
Do you have any studio rituals?
I do listen to very specific music when I am sculpting. My absolute favourite is the album “Krishna Das, Live on Earth”. I’ve made many, many sculptures over the past few years while listening to this and I never tire of it!
You have completed several public space and interior design commissions – do you have any particular favourites?
Yes, my first public commission is a large wall sculpture for the refurbished London House Hotel in Chicago. It meant a great deal to me to be there because it is an iconic, historic building. A more recent favourite is my lobby installation at 77 Greenwich in New York City, a magnificent new luxury high-rise building.
Has the current pandemic impacted your work?
The sadness in the world certainly affected my spirit and there were times this past year I just could not get inspired to work in clay. Instead, I pulled out some blank canvases and spent a few weeks painting abstracts in very bright colours with big, energized brushstrokes. In retrospect, that was very therapeutic. I wanted to come out of the darkness.
Not long ago, my creative energy came back to clay. When it did I found myself wanting to sculpt objects that were more vertical, that reached upward to the sky—sort of a symbolic lifting off from sadness. My sculpture, Crown Jewel, was one of the pieces I formed then.
What are you working on currently and what’s next?
I just spent a few months working on a triptych—three panels of abstract poppies that span six feet across so I am in concepting mode right now! I’m not sure what is next. I have been thinking of creating a very large tabletop piece that will be very complex and ocean-themed and possibly a work with more flat pieces like my Die Kunst Des Elises (The Art of Ice).
