Close Window

Victoria Garcia Zevallos

The ceramic art of Victoria Garcia (Lima, 1960), delicate in its elaboration and genuinely representative of Peru, possesses pre-Hispanic roots and a deceptive simplicity. Her dexterity as a loving potter exalts the earth, transforming it into noble clay works, finding always space for beauty. Jars, plates, masks and even utilitarian pieces of first rate quality emerge from her oven in a creative song celebrating life. Her miraculous ceramic work has no voice but rather a reverential silence for its ancestral past, to the origins of water and earth - element and nourishment of her work.

"I'm a self-taught ceramic artist - most of my learning I obtained in my workshop by the light of experimentation and reflexion. Nonetheless I did take courses in graphic design and ceramic art. I describe my work as contemporary ceramics of pre-Hispanic expression. I've been devoted to this labor for twelve years due to the artistic pleasure and by the possibility to express myself in a simple language while diffusing our national heritage. I work alone and with complete dedication, all the while in search of improving my creations. In my art there is a message that tries to rescue the pre-Hispanic values that are part of our national legacy.

"My raw material is local clay complemented with oxides and pigments. I use an oven that reaches 1050 degrees Celsius and also wooden supports and 'puaca' stones for polishing. For decorating I use engobe (prepared liquid clay) for my colors. I knead the clay until it is ready to mold, cut it to the desired size and stretch it on the wheel. Once it has achieved the desired form it dries naturally for a period of four days. I then proceed to decorate the piece using fine paintbrushes to apply the engobe before firing it. The final step is the polishing.

"I've exhibited my work both individually and collectively in local institutions of prestige like the French Alliance and the 'Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano.' My work has also been presented in Japan and Chile.

"Life for me has always been full of challenges and I consider the most important is to have dedicated my path to the development of my art. With each ensuing year I can say that I've achieved my objective - an identity in ceramic art. I love to teach my art and have no reservations about transmitting my knowledge especially when someone demonstrates true interest in setting out on their own path.

"To Novica clients I make them an honest proposal - approach my work not with the interest of a researcher but with the love of a gardener, because each one of my pieces is unique and different, containing a piece of cultural identity from my beloved country where, beneath the most beautiful sky on earth we learn happiness from the everyday aspects of our poetry."

The ceramic art produced by the expert fingers of Victoria is like a chest filled with seeds and ancestral palpitations - like an eternal butterfly that opens and closes its wings letting us see the splendor of its colors and forms.