Marta Blanc

Wire sculptor

©Marinette Barro

Enamoured with metal

Marta is specialized in metal wire sculpting
Her craft requires a combination of multiple techniques
She uses metal wire as a pencil to draw in the 3D space

Marta Blanc was born in the industrial town of Sokolov under the communist regime of Czechoslovakia. As a child, she used to play near coal mines and chemical factories, where the smells and colours of rusted metals and chemicals made a great impression on her. Her dilemma between art and technique was resolved. She studied chemistry instead of art, with the ambition to be useful to the protection of the environment and implement techniques to improve air quality. She started a PhD but did not complete it due to the 1989 revolution. She then work as a self-taught graphic designer for 10 years in Prague and after moving to Switzerland and having to endure the uprooting, she felt the necessity to express herself via art, especially painting. Metal crocheting came naturally later, as it was part of her roots and childhood.

Interview

©Marinette Barro

©Marinette Barro

Where did you get the idea to combine crocheting and metal?: One of Czechia’s old traditional craft techniques is to restore ceramics with embroidered metal threads. Apart from that, it came from my fascination of metals, my love of crocheting and my training as a chemist, which helps me in the oxidizing of my sculptures and the electrolyse technique.
What do your pieces resonate?: Spontaneity. Even though I usually work from a sketch, the process remains intuitive because I listen to the material. I love the unexpected and the result is often quite different from the original idea. I like to work with the spontaneous deformation of the material and the effect of time on the object. What I really like is the "out of time" appearance of my work.
What inspires you?: Mathematics expecially, computer generated forms, infinity, organic fractals and the cellular and biological world. Lack of inspiration is really not my problem, my problem is to not be overwhelmed by too much.
What is little-known about your work?: I painted for 12 years. In my work, one can feel the need for three-dimensionality and infinity. The same fractal, geometrical patterns also appeared repeatedly. My sculptural work is therefore the natural continuation of my paintings.

Marta Blanc is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2008