I am Ksenia Polyakova.
Ceramic artist, potter.

My speciality: large and compound forms. I have developed pottery technique and teach using my own method of quick learning.

Biographical note

From an early age I have had two great passions in my life: sport and design. These interests and life experiences have merged harmoniously in pottery, where every day I realise new creative challenges and experience the possibilities of my body when working with large shapes. I was educated in architecture and design: I graduated from art school, college and university.

In parallel with my university studies, I developed a career in floristry. It was an important stage of 10 years: the path began from an assistant, and I ended up working as an art director of a network of flower salons, but not feeling floristry as my life's work, I continued to search for myself, attending various creative courses. One day I came to a master class in pottery and it was love at first sight, I knew it was it.

The immersion in the craft was very intense: I completed two courses with Pietro Elia Maddalena and practised for hours in my studio. Working with clay completely captured my attention and I devoted all my energies to developing my skills. In the first year of practice I learnt to work with a lot of weight and learnt to spin 15kg of clay, such rapid progress is not accidental - hours of practice, attention and analysing mistakes allowed me to develop my own methodology. And although I don't chase weight gain in my work now, it has proved useful when training people. After just a couple of years I was invited to teach at the Moscow Ceramic School, where I matured as a speaker and teacher, and then opened my own school in a picturesque place not far from the Polenov estate.

have trained more than 500 students and now people come to me not only from different parts of the country, but also from abroad, although I don't do training programmes very often. My main focus is on developing myself as an artist, I have big plans and I work hard to realise them: every day I experiment in the studio and improve my own skills.

Artist statement

I specialise in compound large-scale ceramic forms made in pottery. I have developed my own technique of working behind the wheel, which allows me to use massive clay blanks and make pieces that sometimes exceed my own height. I like the idea that with my activity I break stereotypes about the exclusivity of physical strength in this field. Even at the beginning of my studies in pottery technique, I encountered a strong opinion that it is impossible to work with such weighty masses of clay without being a person of large build. I strive to ensure that the works not only convey my inner sensual experiences, but also harmonise with the surrounding world, becoming part of an open space or landscape.

«The way Kseniya Polyakova interacts with the material while working at the pottery wheel, feeling the thickness of the piece, the texture of the material and the height of the future work, can be described as observing herself in a moment of maximum tension of interaction with the material. Using pottery tools developed from her own moulds, she makes works of impressive complexity and scale. All of her works are made from red or white high temperature clay. The artist uses glazes to cover the already fired pieces, developed according to her own formulas. Her designs stand out not only because of the silhouette honed by years of work and teaching, but also because of the play of colour, thanks to the textured patterned coating.»