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."

Interview

©Soledad Christie

©Soledad Christie

What was that first encounter with the ancestral tradition of your country?: I was fascinated by the collection of burnished black pre-Columbian ceramics in the San Pedro de Atacama Museum. I was deeply moved by its great strength and extreme delicacy, so simple in its design and at the same time so full of mystery.
What struck you most about the pottery?: I was intrigued by the small fragments of ancient red and black pots that I found while walking in the desert. It was an incredible connection for me to think that some pre-Columbian potter had held the same piece of pottery in their hands for hours hundreds of years ago.
What is your relationship with clay?: I am fascinated by the plastic quality of clay, and how it changes throughout the process, from wet to dry. At each moment of the process, it has its own particular quality and sound. This quality allows me to immerse myself in a kind of slowness and presence. My hands think.
What is your creative process?: The shapes and volumes come intuitively. I follow the rhythm of each piece and the flow of its lines. They are intuitions, sensations, a kind of instinctive expression of how I perceive my environment and how I feel the form, balance, stillness and movement.

Soledad Christie is a master artisan: she began her career in 2000 and she started teaching in 2003