White/grey and brown glazed ceramic secret box by Gisèle Buthod Garçon.
Raku fired. Artist monogram and signature under the base. Circa 1980-1990.
H : 9.1’ x 8.3’ x 7.5’ inches.
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Born in 1954 in Salon-de-Provence, France, lives and works in Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie, France.
Gisèle Buthod-Garçon grew up on a farm, in direct contact with nature and the earth, to which she has always remained deeply connected. Her singularity lies in the alliance of Raku and thick glazes — a paradoxical combination that has established her reputation. Her research focuses on volume, sculptural presence, and the materiality of clay, in a constant dialogue between earth, fire, form, glaze, nature, and travel.
After several years producing utilitarian ceramics in a factory, she decided in 1982 to devote herself fully to her artistic practice. Settling in Manduel, near Nîmes, she built her own wood-fired kiln and definitively adopted the American Raku technique, inherited from Paul Soldner.
Inspired by Japanese Raku, this method incorporates a smoking stage: the incandescent pieces, removed from the kiln, are plunged into vegetal materials whose traces become imprinted on the clay. To meet her technical requirements, she developed her own clay body, a subtle blend of stoneware, earthenware, grog, and talc.
Travel has played an essential role in her journey. A first stay in Senegal in 1979 revealed her desire to shape clay. From 1990 to 2012, she undertook no fewer than thirteen journeys with her partner, Paul Rivault, across Africa (Egypt, Benin, Burkina Faso), Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Japan), and Yemen. These experiences have nourished her work with great formal and spiritual diversity, reflecting a constant search for renewal and openness to the world.