Liza Portnova prefers an empirical approach. For the past few years, she has been actively studying glazes and other chemical coatings. Although her own experiments inspire her more, she is interested in studying the clays of different areas. She creates her unique glazes from earth, stones, and wood from all over the world and uses all available means: pottery, slip casting, moulding. It draws her into an endless process of exploration and discovery.
More recently she has been creating objects using ready-made sculptures from other authors. For the first time in 2020, she used her husband’s vases to create a zoomorphic sculpture. The vases, which were created more than 10 years ago, served as the starting point for creating a new image. This experience still inspires her today. The work of another author or a fragment of her own sculpture is already charged with certain energy. This fragment already carries certain information. It serves as a seed from which a new image grows. This image cannot be represented in a sketch. This is improvisation in ceramics. It’s as exciting as raku firing. A journey into an unknown future. This is what attracts her to ceramics and why she needs to create.
Liza Portnova was born in 1981 in Kyiv. She received a bachelor’s degree in ceramics in Kyiv Industrial Technical University in 2002. She worked in Elsas Sahals’s workshop in Paris and taught ceramics in Collegi e Liceu Raymond Loewy in November 2022.
She was involved in the reconstruction of the ceramic rosettes of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyivo-Pecherska Lavra in 2000 and She taken part in the exhibitions in Chateau de Mollens under the auspices of Foundation Jean Villard Gilles in Mollens, Switzerland; the 50th Congress of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) in Geneva, Switzerland; Artceram Organise la 8eme Biennale de Sevres in Paris, France; Premio Grottaglie 2022 in Museo della Ceramica in Grottaglie, Earth Identity Place Material in Beijing, China; Ukrainian ceramic festival Tse Glyna in Kyiv, Ukraine.
In 2016 she participated in the residence Fuping Pottery Art Village and created the Ukrainian Modern Ceramics pavilion in Fuping, China.
She is a Member of National Union of Artists of Ukraine from 2005.
Education
2002 Bachelor, ceramics artist of Kyiv Industrial Technical University. Kyiv/Ukraine.
Work Experience
2022 – month of November taught ceramics in COLLEGI E LICEU RAYMOND LOEWY.
2022 – worked from Elsas Sahal workshop. Paris, France.
2022 – Master class at the academy “Lycée Général et Technologique Raymond Lœwy”, La Souterraine, France.
2009 – 2022 – work in own studio. Kyiv, Ukraine.
2000 – Reconstruction of ceramic rosettes of the “Assumption Cathedral” of the “Kyivo-Pecherska Lavra” Kyiv, Ukraine
Exhibitions
2022 “CHÂTEAU DE MOLLENS” under the auspices of “Fondation Jean Villard Gilles”Mollens, Switzerland
2022 The 50th Congress of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC). Geneva, Switzerland
2022 “Exposition d’Art Hors-les-Normes”. Maison d’André Breton à Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
2022 Residence and exhibition “A.I.R. Vallauris”. Vallauris, France
2022 “ARTCERAM ORGANISE LA 8ÈME BIENNALE DE SEVRES” Paris, France
2022 “Revelations”, «Grand Palais Éphémère», Paris, France
2022 “Ceramic Market in Bussière-Badil in Dordogne”. France
2022 Honor award in International Juried Ceramics Exhibition “Premio Grottaglie 2022”. Museo della Ceramica di Grottaglie, Grottaglie, Italy
2021 « REFLEX », at the « Museum of creative arts O. Bilogo « , Chornomorsk city, Ukraine
2020 « Life on / off », art gallery « Veles », Lviv, Ukraine
2020 International Juried Ceramics Exhibition “MediTERRAneo”, Museo della Ceramica di Grottaglie, Grottaglie, Italy
2019 Member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC)
2019 International Juried Ceramics Exhibition “TERRA”, Museo della Ceramica di GrottaglieGrottaglie, Italy
2019 «Grand Prix» the highest award of the «International Biennial of Artistic Ceramics named after Vasyl
Krichevsky» in «National Museum-Reserve of Ukrainian Pottery in Opishny». Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 International Juried Porcelain Exhibition “2019 Blanc de Chine International Ceramic Art Award (ICAA)” Beijing, China
2018 International Juried Ceramics Exhibition « EARTH Identity Place Material ». Grottaglie, Italy 2018 Ukrainian ceramic festival “TSE GLYNA”, Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 “Art is born of fire” – exhibition of National Union of Artists of Ukraine
2017 Ukrainian ceramic festival “TSE GLYNA”, Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 International Juried Ceramics Exhibition « ACQUA « . Grottaglie, Italy
2016 Residence “Fuping Pottery Art Village” and the creation of a pavilion of “Ukrainian Modern Ceramics” in “Fuping Pottery Art Village”. ICMEA. Fuping, China
2015 – International “Macsabal Woodfire Festival” and Contemporary Ceramic Art Exhibition “Ceramic world of the Silk Road” in the Imperial Ancestral Temple of the Forbidden City. Beijing, China
2015 Member of National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Kyiv, Ukraine.
2015 “Art is born of fire” – exhibition of National Union of Artists of Ukraine
2015 “7th Great Sculpture Salon” in “Mystetskyi Arsenal”. Kyiv, Ukraine
2015 Residence and Exhibition in the “Macsabal Museum”. Samne, South Korea
2014 Personal exhibition “Andrii + Liza”. Kyiv, Ukraine.
2014 Participation in the international charity exhibition in the “Museum of Ukrainian Modern Art” Madrid, Spain.
2013 Participation in the festival « GOGOLFEST ». Kyiv, Ukraine.
2012 The first personal exhibition « Light and Stone » in the “Museum-workshop of Ivan Kavaleridze” Kyiv, Ukraine
2011 Participation in the exhibition « Christmas Postcard » in the “Museum-workshop of Ivan Kavaleridze”. Kyiv, Ukraine
2010 – Author symposium « Revival of Paleolithic Ceramics ». Donetsk region, Ukraine.
2009 – Participation in the exhibition « Christmas » at the “National Museum of Ivan Gonchar”. Kyiv, Ukraine. 2009 – Participating in the creation of the « Landscape Alley ». Ceramic objects. Kyiv, Ukraine.