Maxine Álvarez
Mexico
Maxine Álvarez (Guadalajara, Mexico) studied Literature and started her ceramic practice in 2014. She has developed a solid and comprehensive experimentation, research and production based on studying and collecting clays as well as creating high temperature glazes and natural slips with collected native species in the western region of Mexico.
Throughout her work she gives special importance to silence and quietness, respecting the process time of materials, in a rhythm that allows her to find an intimate connection with the environment, and thus enhancing the spirit of the piece, turning it into a cultural carrier of meanings. Her main aim is to develop a conscious and profound artisanal practice connected to the context and its resources.
She founded Casa Ceniza workshop in 2020 as a ceramic collaborative space in contemplative action, where several activities such as exhibitions, artist residencies, and ceramic courses are organized. She has invited Ceramists to collaborate including Juan Ortí and Miguel Molet from Spain, the Japanese ceramist Yoko Sekino-Bovè, and the Mexican artists Javier del Cueto and Adan Paredes to participate in different activities in Casa Ceniza.
She has recently participated in a collective exhibition Una modernidad hecha a mano at Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) in Mexico City. Exhibited her ash glaze work in the exhibition Diseño en femenino at Museum Franz Mayer in Mexico City and later in Casa de México in Madrid. She is part of the duo artist project MAREMOTO with her daughter Natalia Ramos.
Ashes in a Living Earth