Danielle Simon
BIOGRAPHY
Seven years ago I dipped my hands into clay and have never really taken them out. For clay and by clay my life changed.
It was my interest in tradition and things sacred that quite naturally led me to study the primitive and ritual techniques at the origin of the history of ceramics. I first studied primitive ceramics in the school year of 2017-2018 at La Borne (an international centre for ceramics) under pupils of Jean and Jacqueline Lerat. The next part of my artistic journey involved searching for my own style in a three-year residence at La Fontaine d’Ananda in the Drôme region of France.
Each piece I make is spontaneously produced from a meditation and is unique. I enjoy letting chance play its part from conception on. Particular influence comes from the sacred art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, occasionally also from Celtic and Byzantine art.
In pursuit of sensitivity and grace, my hands move in an intentionally rough and natural, sometimes even wild way over seemingly unrefined materials. I work with very natural Baillet clay and oxides.
Every face is special and carries the mark of my inner world. Through ever so sensitive touch, I seek to make the invisible visible and to transform the fragility of living things.
Artistic approach
First the faces. I model in the darkness of my workshop, letting my hands feel for the expressions, sensations, intimacy and fragility of living things and allow myself to be surprised by the emotions that spontaneously appear.
Next come the bodies, which I form more quickly. A great part of my work goes into giving shape and substance to things angels have been whispering to me over the past twenty years and into redeveloping a taste for dialogue in daily life with these messages …
The Little Souls: Let’s always keep our childhood soul !
Each little being that emerges from the clay through my sculpting is unique and may be comical, thoughtful, smiling, dreaming, or loving, always bundled in a big coat, in a cocoon, or in a chrysalis…
Little Souls are with us at all the special times in our life, gathering up our hopes and our dreams. Their function is close to that of a guardian angel, a favourite teddy bear, or a diary. Like little princes, they welcome and listen to our dreams and secrets, and so may become the focus for a dialogue with our childhood soul, our heart, and our innocence.
Placed on a bookshelf, in a bedside table drawer, or on an altar, these Little Souls are always with us, adding markers to our lives, helping us understand our joys and sorrows and our tenderness. They make a welcome gift for anyone who wishes to connect with his inner marvelling, purity, and imagination and maintain the wonderment of childhood.
Expositions
Exposition en Suisse :
2022 – MAG Montreux salon art contemporain
Expositions en France :
2024 – musée de la Chaussure Romans sur Isère.
2024 – St Cierge la serre – Salon art et artisanat
Février 2024 – Exposition salle d’exposition – La fontaine d’Ananda (permanente)
Décembre 2023 – Exposition de Noel – Valence (Hanaya)
Novembre 2023 – Salon Art drome Valence
2023– L’Isle sur la sorgues – Galerie Mémoire d’un âne – exposition permanente
2022– Exposition d’été - Abbaye de Léoncel
Octobre 2022 – Chabeuil Chemin des artistes
Octobre 2022 – Salon Art drome Valence – Salle des clercs
2022 L’Isle sur la sorgues – galerie Mémoire d’un âne
2021– Exposition d’été – Abbaye de Léoncel Octobre
Octobre 2021 – Chabeuil Chemin des artistes
Octobre 2021 – Salon Art Drôme Valence – Salle des clercs
Novembre 2021 – Salon Art Drôme Valence – Salle des clercs
2019 – Exposition personnelle La fontaine d’Ananda- Chabeuil
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Re-Visionary symbol: I leave my work free of copyright so that it can be shared among people who wish to reproduce it in the spirit of the Collective, as long as they indicate me as author.
Copyright symbol: I am the copyright holder of my own works: my work cannot be reproduced, except by the Re-Visionary Art Collective, under the conditions as indicated above in point 1. Unless I give my written consent.
CONTACT
Danielle Simon
2055 route des sylvains
26120 Chabeuil ( France)