Mariska De Jager

Mariska De Jager is a full-time ceramicist based in Cambridge, Waikato. She produces contemplative figurative sculptures that explore the human condition- love, hope, struggles and dreams. Through the depiction of the subtleties of a figure's pose, from the lines of the eyes, to the position of the shoulders; she aims to capture a sense of mood and emotion.

Each piece is built by hand, sculpted individually with a paperclay, not with a mold. As such, every piece is unique. After they have dried she sands the work and fires them to 1100‘C. Her glazes offer a unique patina, slight metallic lustres and an alloy hue which gives the look of bronze.

Some pieces incorporate ruptures and window like openings, this is a symbol of fragility or the light within us all. This idea is pronounced by the inclusion of a LED light installed inside the piece which illuminates through the ceramic. As the artist describes: "Fragility is a recurring theme in most of my finished pieces…Humans are so fragile but at the same time so strong.”