Irina Moigis

I like working with ceramics. For me - ceramics is one of the oldest arts, which combines sculpture, painting and graphics. When working out my creative idea or theme, I try to find a simple and laconic solution, whether it is a silhouette of sculpture or a graphic image on a form or plane surface.

The main theme, which passes through all my works, is the “Sense of the Past in the Present”. My works are signs, shadows and silhouettes of the past.

I divide my works into three groups: sculptures, vessels and dishes. My works are not utilitarian; they are of merely decorative character. I work with chamotte. I like this material. Under high-temperature conditions, it becomes stone-like, its rough and uneven surface gives the article an impression of being archaeological, while the mode of firing can produce an unexpected effect, which is hard to repeat later, and the article itself becomes a unique one.

-- Irina Moigis

At the age of 14, I suddenly felt very clearly that I wanted to become an artist.

In 1980, I entered the Minsk Art College, where I learned academic drawing and painting, and as well studied decorative and applied arts. I also took classes in ceramics there, in which I got a special, I would even say a magic, interest.

After graduating from the Art College in 1984, I worked for three years as a decorator in the art workshops of Minsk Art and Production Complex (Workshops of the Art Foundation of USSR). I had a good job and excellent earnings, but the wish to work creatively and to acquire professional knowledge in the area of ceramics forced me to enter the Art Institute.

In 1987, after the third attempt, I was admitted to the Belarusian State Theater and Art Institute, which was later renamed to the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. During my study, I was very active in my work. I began to exhibit my works and took part in art exhibitions since 1988.

In 1995, I was accepted as a member of the Union of Artists of Belarus.

In 1996, during my trip to Germany, I had the luck to be introduced to Prof. Gustav Weiss, the editor of the “Neue Keramik” magazine, who showed interest in my works. As a result, a short article about my creative activity was published in the “Neue Keramik” issue No. 9/1997, pp. 540-541. For several years, I received magazines from him on a regular basis with information about ceramics and related events, which was of interest for me. Thanks to this information, I could take part in ceramics exhibitions in Spiez (Switzerland), Kapfenberg (Austria), Delft (Netherlands), Mamer (Luxemburg), Carouge/Geneva (Switzerland).

In view of certain life circumstances as well as because of the specificity of ceramics itself, I cannot always take part in an event or exhibition. However, I am thankful to the fate and the opportunity for what I have managed to do and I hope that I will experience something interesting in the future…