"I recover earth and various materials in forests, wet meadows, riversides, paths and earth excavation areas. In the hot season it is practical because the materials are dry and therefore light, but more difficult to recognize because everything is rather dusty and crumbly. In the cold season, on the contrary, the clay is soft, so by the texture it is easy to recognize if it is sandstone. But it is much heavier, so the walk becomes physical!
Also, I often travel to France and the surrounding area with my van to have the opportunity to glean raw materials from other regions, sands and ochres that I cannot find here.
Once the land is harvested, I let it settle in the rain for months. When the time comes I filter by hand or using a masonry sieve, I sort out the small branches and foliage, the pebbles. Then I form small heaps, then larger ones, and I energetically lower all this sorted and kneaded earth. It may take several days.
The sandstone comes from here in Puisaye, picked up around Treigny, and I sometimes added chamotte made in the workshop to the raw earth.
For the glazes in this collection, everything is in vine ash, one of my favorite enamel materials for the last five years that I have been in Burgundy. To this I added limestone and feldspar from the Morvan in very small quantities, and on certain pieces of ocher from Valdeblore, during a trip to the Mercantour national park.
It's all very random and it amuses me a lot."
