As in the human heart so in nature – beauty and the divine are often revealed in the gifts of imperfection. This is the limitless creative space in which Lana Trzebinski’s inspiration in nature’s geometric patterns and forms intertwines with the infinite possibilities of artistic accident to create unique organic ceramic sculptures.

Through her hands moulding Kenya’s rich clay each piece reflects sacred natural forms and patterns which are then transformed by her personal alchemy of beautiful individually mixed glazes into sculpture that manifests the magical moment of accident and the enduring beauty of imperfection.

“I think sometimes words are brutal and deficient to describe the unknowable miracles of the creative process,” she says. “What I do know is that in my studio there is some order being created out of chaos, a place of calmness, clarity and healing where natures organic patterns and working with ones hands and individually mixed glazes without any certainty of the exact result makes these pieces imperfectly perfect – like us”.

Lana has had more than her fair share of personal tragedy. But rather than her experiences overshadowing the work, her art is transcendent over the vicissitudes of her life story into an alchemic space where the divine of nature, which some call God, is fused with human hands moulding the life force of the earth and the delicate and complex mixing of the infinite possibilities of glaze. And nowhere is this redemption more apparent than in Lana’s light infused white studio – part refuge and retreat – part healing anvil on which are forged new works which birth with enigmatic life force.

“This studio and this work is my world and mine alone,” she says. “I know who I am here. I am known in a self-created and organic identity not linked to any outside person or any event but to a pure, innocent and ultimately private place of ever expanding magic, mystery and creation. I feel strongly that my work doesn’t have to be explained or constrained in words. What words, after all, can come even a fraction close to describing the feelings we have when we see the beauty of a flower?”

If fractal geometry and nature’s organic shapes are an inspiration, and Kenya’s rich clay is the material form then the final piece of the artistic alchemy comes in the glazes. Lana mixes her own glazes – hundreds and hundreds of powders blended, formulas tried and tested in myriad experiments of infinite possibility with meticulous notes and tables kept in leather bound books. But no matter how much testing Lana can never be sure of the final result of how each individual glaze will react with each individual sculpted form in the kiln. Some glazes may bubble or drip or transform in the heat of the kiln. And so some element of accident comes into the magical formula and the artists ability to see whether what has been finally created is a gift of imperfection.