It’s been over a decade since Nastia Calaca fell in love with ceramics, and this art form helped her discover the world of childlike wonder. She made a name for herself with her unique and playful pieces that usually take the shape of quirky creatures inspired by the animal world.
Calaca is a ceramic artist and teacher from Ukraine currently based in Paris, who discovered ceramics during a school trip to a summer art camp. She was enamored with the idea of playing with clay all day, and something truly magical happened when she decided to give it a shot.
Over a decade has passed since, and ceramics are now a part of her everyday life. She specializes in making anthropomorphic sculptures that look straight out of this world, but they’re rooted in our reality.
“They started their life as flat images on the printed pages, but then they came to life as real and alive as I imagined them… As for me, I even talk to my handmade fellows. We agree on the number of their fingers, the color of their eyes, come up with their past, and discuss their future,” she writes on her official website.
Calaca kicks off her creative process by making a quick sketch before modeling with clay, mixing glazes, painting, firing, and glazing the sculpture to get the finished product. She finds inspiration everywhere from anatomy books and Victorian fashion catalogs to the natural history museums.
