tiles that open to the horizon
Teresa Cortez’s linework is ostensibly a means of expression. It plays with chiaroscuro, the overlapping and juxtaposed layers that take form and rise, in each work, in their entirety, disclosing colour. Just like in the East, where the pictorial basis is nourished by the essence of matter, with the paint on paper, canvas or ceramic, flowing from its thought. With either thicker or more diluted paint, the author carries out the representation, outlining, dying the diversity of colour, tone, highlighting every nuance, every shade.
In fact, when shaping a ceramic piece, the author first outlines her design on paper. The foundation drawn in coloured pencil, watercolour or other material is here considered. It makes itself known and is subsequently transposed, recreated in terracotta, in a ceramic plate, in a sculpture or in a jar. Its greater or lesser tactile element and chromatic intensity is clarified in this creative phase. The shapes may acquire volume, high or low-relief, or simply be painted and then fired in a muffle kiln at over 1000 degrees centigrade. It is here that a bidimensional or tridimensional piece acquired its skin, its more or less glazed ceramic fabric. As the heat intensifies, a chromatic explosion ensues, dilating unlimitedly its expressive value.
