SYLVIE POOL ALVAREZ

ARTIST BIO

Sylvie doesn’t remember when she was first introduced to clay because it was around her from birth since her grandmother's pottery studio was on the ground floor of their house. She was born and raised in Seychelles and then moved to the United States for upper level schooling and university. Since then Sylvie has sculpted in multiple three-dimensional media such as stone, wax, glass mosaics, wirework, beading, polymer clay, and anything else she could get her hands on. Her love for clay resurfaced while she was doing her MA in Art at the University of Guam and consequently she decided to end her career as freelance editor to pursue art full-time. Sylvie specializes in ceramics whereby her artwork is biomorphic in style and sensual in movement. Originally from Seychelles, and currently living in Guam, she has always been greatly inspired by the sea and all of its inhabitants, as well as the rest of her natural surroundings. When working with clay, most of her work is created solely with her bare hands as she believes in letting her direct sense of touch guide her sculptural work. Her hands inevitably create what she loves – memories of a childhood paradise, sea life, and the ever-swaying movement of life forces such as the waves and winds. The most recent exhibitions Sylvie has participated in have been held at Eden Art Space (Seychelles), Art Fluent, Light Space & Time, the Guam Museum, and the Isla Center for the Arts (Guam).

ARTIST STATEMENT

Touch, in my opinion, is the most underrated and undervalued of the senses. It has the power - to Heal, to Soothe, to Hurt, to Love, to Create. The way a lover's skin feels during a passionate moment. The way mud feels squishing through my toes. The way porcelain slides through my hands and fingers as I unawaredly manipulate it in the way my mind wants. - This is how I create. I create through a stream of consciousness and I find it very freeing because my hands just create whatever the brain is directly telling them to do. There's no pre-planning so it frees the mind from responsibility, allowing the mind to revel and enjoy the beauty of the moment. As I am eternally fascinated by the purity of form and fluidity within the seas' depths, my hands "massage" sculptures into being inspired by the creatures and oceanic movements found within. Squishing clay through my fingers... The sensuality of it is like nothing else and that is why I choose to use no other tools, apart from my hands, when I sculpt.


www.sylviealvarez.com
IG: @sylviealvarezart