Elena Renker

Elena's focus has been on making shino-glazed bowls and cups. To her a bowl is the ultimate domestic item, representing nourishment and sustenance. She aims for her bowls to be strong yet subtle with a timeless quality, as if they had been on the kitchen table feeding the family for a long time. She is fascinated with the compelling nature of the Japanese shino glaze. The crazing, pin-holing, crawling and the way this glaze shows every mark are all characteristics that provide a challenge no other glaze can match. Elena lives on a farm north of Auckland, which gives her the opportunity to use clay from her own land. Faceting the exterior of the pot opens up the clay and exposes all its impurities and creates an interesting surface with which the shino glaze interacts. She loves the unpredictability of this glaze, the interplay bwtween glaze and clay and the fact she never knows what she will find when she opens the kiln. Elena has a Diploma in Ceramics.