Jacqueline #3

COVID has hit everyone very hard, however, I have always tried to look at silver linings and this is what this painting represents. This painting represents the hope that has come from COVID.

My ceramics journey began in April. My usual medium of art has always been abstract expressionism but I was introduced to ceramics through a friend. I suffer from anxiety, PTSD, and depression before COVID so it has been a tough time mentally, to say the least. Ceramics offered me a safe haven.

The use of black and white highlights the coming together of the light and dark, the negativity of COVID, and the positivity of ceramics and how they have shaped my life. My journey down this new path is only just beginning and the cutout shapes represent that.

I have named this painting Jacqueline, after Jacqueline Gilot, Picasso's muse who helped inspire him during his ceramics journey.

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Elena Strohfeldt is an Australian artist based in Melbourne. She is self-taught and started working with ceramics in 2020, shortly after establishing her brand Elso Collective.

She handbuilds raw clay into modern ceramic sculptures combining art, design and functionality. Each of her pieces is watertight and fired to stoneware in textured earthy tones of brown, cream and sand.

In her short time as a ceramic artist, she has been selected for prestigious artist markets in Melbourne including Melbourne Ceramics Market and Rose St Artist Market. Her work is also stocked in stores across VIC, NSW, and QLD including Makers Mrkt, and has been exhibited in galleries including Printmaking Gallery in Fitzroy and a solo exhibition at Michael Reid Clay in Sydney.

“As I begin each piece there is no preconceived vision of what I want to create, I let my hands interact with the clay organically. Once I am halfway through, the piece begins to form and I know where to take it. The clay is my way of telling a story.”