Stripe Vessel 216

Dimensions: Height 170 x 115mm Diameter

Ceramics: Annie Smits Sandano's contemporary ceramics practice is centred on handcrafted ceramic works that blend modern design with a deep sensitivity to material and process. Her pieces are characterised by refined textures and a vibrant palette - reflecting an ongoing exploration of balance form and silhouette.

Annie’s work often echoes influences from contemporary design mixed with finessed traditional ceramic techniques which are thoughtfully combined in innovative and delightful ways resulting in pieces that feel both timeless, modern and exploratory. Through this approach, she creates ceramics that are both functional and sculptural—objects that invite everyday use while also standing as considered works of art.

Artist Bio: Annie Sandano celebrates the cultures of her birthplace, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and her current home, New Zealand. She merges cultural factors from Brazil and New Zealand; assembling, collating and hybridizing to reconfigure our traditional visual vocabulary. Sandano’s prints create a narrative of contemporary folklore with references to modern illustration, traditional Japanese woodcut prints and the respective histories of decorative and fine arts in Brazil and New Zealand.

Annie is primarily interested in investigating the basic interaction between line and colour via materiality and/or process. A visceral response is often her end point. Her visual cues are broad: from painting to ceramics to printmaking, everything interests her. She seeks to create images and objects which operate on a visceral level and incite an emotion which transports the viewer. Colour, light, texture & shapes are all key concerns throughout her practice. A lot of the satisfaction in making comes from working with materials & her work is process-driven.

Within each of the disciplines in her practice Annie often strives to cultivate processes which at first instance are rooted in the traditional - primarily analogue and championing labour some and, when relevant, antiquated methods. At the same time a lot of my work blurs the edges of where one medium begins and the other ends, questioning both and this way creating space for the visual dialogue to be questioned within a contemporary context both aesthetically and materially.

Her limited edition prints are hand made using traditional analogue techniques and her ceramic works are all very tactile and slowly hand-built. Annie’s original paintings are often built from materials she has created or using techniques she has hybridised from printmaking.

Annie is interested in continually developing a diverse portfolio of works and approaches, working solo and collaboratively and exhibiting her work in an array of platforms. Having completed her Fine Arts education at Elam School of Fine Arts with Honours and the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design in the USA, Sandano has had successful exhibitions in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

Annie’s work often echoes influences from contemporary design mixed with finessed traditional ceramic techniques which are thoughtfully combined in innovative and delightful ways resulting in pieces that feel both timeless, modern and exploratory. Through this approach, she creates ceramics that are both functional and sculptural—objects that invite everyday use while also standing as considered works of art.