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©Soledad Christie
©Soledad Christie
©Soledad Christie
©Soledad Christie
©Soledad Christie

Soledad Christie

  • Ceramicist
  • San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
  • Master Artisan
Soledad Christie Ceramicist
©Soledad Christie

The shapes of the desert

  • • Soledad lives in the vast desert of Atacama
  • • Her pieces owe much to pre-Columbian ceramics
  • • Her approach to ceramics is influenced by the landscape around her

Although she was born in Viña del Mar and studied in Valparaíso, Chile, Soledad Christie discovered her vocation in the immensity of the desert territory of San Pedro de Atacama. She has now lived there for more than 30 years. "Here I encountered the strength of an ancestral language, pre-Columbian pottery," she says. Her pieces are modelled by hand, using the ancient techniques of pinching and Lulo. "The surface quality is obtained by burnishing with river stone. Burning is traditional pit burning with guano, combined with a low-temperature burn in a gas kiln," she adds. "I recognise the landscape of the Atacama Desert and Andean Altiplano as part of my own identity. The silence, solitude, light and vastness of this territory have shaped my being and my work."

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©Soledad Christie
  • ©Soledad Christie
  • ©Soledad Christie
  • ©Soledad Christie
  • ©Soledad Christie
Photo: ©Soledad Christie
Llamitas Silhouettes

These sculptural vessels are hand modelled with the techniques of pinching and Lulo. The burnishing is done with a small river stone during the drying process. All the pieces have a first firing in a low temperature terracotta gas kiln. The black pieces go through a second firing, the traditional pit firing, using llama and goat guano as fuel. The firing is done in a reducing atmosphere, which is the reason for the black colour, grays and graphites on the surface of the piece.

Photo: ©Soledad Christie
Salar, a winter dream

Life and water in the salt flats are closely related. This is how the close relationship between these two pieces is presented, from their movement and fluidity. These are sculptural vessels modelled by hand with the techniques of pinching and Lulo. The burnishing is done with a small river stone during the drying process. The firing is done in a low temperature terracotta gas kiln.

Photo: ©Soledad Christie
Song to water

This series of vessels is an attempt by Soledad Christie to show the vessel as an ancestral form of the human, its presence and power as a kind of deep poetic resonance. Vessels that try to express something about water in this territory, from the silence of their emptiness to the small traces on their surface. They are modelled by hand with the techniques of pinching and Lulo.

Photo: ©Soledad Christie
Altiplano Silhouettes

Soledad Christie's intention is to show how various silhouettes in the highlands appear in the middle of the vastness with a kind of lightness and tend to rise in the immensity of that space. The pieces go through a first firing in a low temperature terracotta gas oven. The black pieces are given a second firing. The burnishing is done with a small river stone during the drying process.

Photo: ©Soledad Christie
Water planting pots

In this series Soledad Christie wants to present the symbolic and ritual aspect of a vessel. Sowing water is an ancient Andean ritual to ask for the abundance of water. These sculptural vessels are modelled by hand with the techniques of pinching and lulo. The burnishing is done with a small river stone during the drying process. The pieces have a first firing in a terracotta gas oven at low temperature. Then a second firing is given, using goat and llama guano as fuel. The firing is done in a reducing atmosphere, which is the reason for the black colour, grays and graphites on the surface of the piece.

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