August Featured MCA Member: Guenola Lefeuvre
“Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves.” – Adrienne Clarkson
As a high school freshman, Guenola Lefeuvre knew she desperately wanted to study ceramics within her Chicago area school’s art program. She persisted for entry into a course reserved for upper-classmen, and was given the option of to wait- or use the lone kick-wheel the older students declined to employ. Guenola jumped at the opportunity, and learned to throw clay on an aged kick-wheel, the same style wheel she chose to use throughout her high school career, through college, and beyond.
Guenola’s drive and desire, as well as her ability to stand out from the crowd have followed with her through the development of her craft. The face behind the extraordinary Textured Porcelain carried at the Center for Maine Craft and other local galleries, she creates delicate yet rugged pieces inspired by nature, all uniquely carved pieces of functional fine craft.
Guenola throws to carve. Texture has been the very essence, the foundation of her work from the beginning of her time at the wheel. Through high school, college, and her career- ceramics has been her full-time job for just over a year now- her pieces have incorporated the graceful nature of porcelain with its translucency, smoothness, and unpredictability, with the coarse and rocky variations of carving. She brings her pots with her on hikes and excursions throughout the Maine wilderness, her backyard for the past 3 years, to photograph them in the wild with complementary colors and patterns.
With ceramics now as her full-time job, Guenola is teaching her craft to others at Windham Adult Education, as well as helping out around the studio at Portland Pottery. She is innovating and experimenting with alternative ways to fire her work including raku and pit-firing. She is currently working on creating a studio space at home, incorporating the kick-wheel purchased for her high school graduation by her grandmother, paying homage to her determined and humble beginnings.
Find Guenola’s Textured Porcelain on display and for sale at the Center for Maine Craft.
For a look at Textured Porcelain up close and in the wild, click here.
Learn more about Guenola Lefeuvre and her creative process, as well as her upcoming craft shows, and view one of a kind ceramics for purchase on her website.