Raymond Warren

Raymond Warren has exhibited his sandstone sculptures for more than thirty years when he built the wood-fired oven in which he fires, at around 2300 ° F, his sandstone stoneware figures*, modeled by hand. The variety of textures and colors given to the sculptures is due to the presence, in changing and more or less predictable concentration, of smoke, flames and ashes in the oven.

 

With their simple and rounded forms, his characters, either by the humor that emerges from them, or by the movement that animates them, express humanity and wisdom. Each figurine has a well-characterized personality and illustrates a world where our childhood is very present. They are designed as containers. In fact, they are empty, and if only by the little holes of their eyes, they invite the soul of whoever sees them to inhabit them. As said Warren: "My enterprise remains the same: to marvel at the fragile and eternal nature of both Man and life, making images of them and subjecting them to the fire."

 

"In Quebec, few ceramists are adept at this method because it requires a well-adapted environment, a mastery of the arrangement of the pieces in the oven and a judicious choice of various essences for cooking and high temperatures." Céramag no 18 February 2020, by Daniel Cogné and Marthe Sirois

 

* Sandstone ironware is a ceramic material characterized by very high hardness and excellent resistance to chemical or climatic attack. This resistance is obtained by cooking at a temperature above 1,200 ° C. It is designated in English by the term sandstone ironware, literally "stone object".

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Public collections:  Malicorne Earthenware and Ceramics Museum, France, Canadian Museum of History, Musée de la civilization, Québec, Ministère de la culture et des communications, Gatineau, Ville de Gatineau, Claridge collection by Charles Bronfman, Société Canderel, Montreal, Société Newbridge, Gatineau and several other cities and institutions.

 

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