Biography

Jean-Claude Ourdouillie first approached ceramics in a Parisian studio, then with a craftsman in the Lot. He went on to set up his own studio in Rely, in the Pas-de-Calais, where he began researching ceramics (stoneware and porcelain), working on two materials side by side: ceramics and glass.

A Clay–Glass symposium in Sars-Poteries then set him on a new path towards pâte de verre (glass paste), which he combines with sandblasting and thermoforming.

His work on enamel, colour and the transparency of glazes thus led him from clay to glass. Magically, fire and water come together.

Fascinated by pâte de verre, Jean-Claude reveals a mysterious world where colour surges like a storm and emotion emerges from fractals. Exuberant and secretive, his sculptures trap light and poetically subvert geometry.

At the same time, his work has turned towards installations of serial sculptures, made of repeated elements that emphasise the idea of the group. Objects meant to protect the body, these artefacts are mocked by the very material they are made of. Ceramic helmets, glass garments: the tension between protection and fragility creates a duality between the strength of numbers and the vulnerability of each element. The choice of ceramics belongs to the tradition of the manufactured, of a technical process linked to industrial imagery.