Natalia Dias

“Influenced by Japanese craft discipline the values that underpin my practice are patience, material knowledge and highly skilled craft. I use a variation of slip cast and hand building to create clay collages formed by multiple cast forms”

Award winning artist Natalia Dias graduated with a 1st class Hons degree from Cardiff School of Art + Design in 2009. Upon which she was awarded the graduate residency at Fireworks Clay Studios in Cardiff where she now practices as a professional artist. In 2007 Dias won 1st prize for Ceramic + Glass at the Wellcome Trust competition Design4Science, in 2010 Dias won the Gold Medal for Craft + Design at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.

“Growing up in Portugal, the church interior was a substitution for the art gallery. The forms, colours, emotions and symbolism found inside those spaces have always been an underlying influence within my work and how it is displayed. Like pre-Raphaelite imagery and much of Greek and Celtic Mythology my classically rooted sculptures centre on the female figure combined with nature. I explore the female as warrior, a figure exuding power and confidence, adapting to an environment in constant flux, metamorphosing between human, plant and beast. I work with narratives from the past that are linked with environmental themes of the present. My fascination with naturally occurring geometric phenomena of repetitive growth patterns in plants and crystals is reflected in the symmetry of line and form that is often found enveloping my figures.

My work revels in the rawness of life. Unafraid of its pathos, I aim to merge the characteristics of the human condition with nature’s contemplative and immersive beauty.”

Artworks

Exhibitions

Till We Have Faces  |  TEN.  |  143 Donald Street | Cardiff

Summer  |  TEN.  |  143 Donald Street | Cardiff

6 Ceramic Artists  |  TEN.  |  Windsor Place | Cardiff