Edith Sévigny-Martel’s residency at Block M74 in Mexico City introduces a new body of work that marks a decisive shift in her practice. Developed on site using raw Oaxacan clay, Closed Forms departs from the artist’s established engagement with functional ceramics through a series of sealed vessels that assert themselves as autonomous sculptures. By closing the form, Sévigny-Martel eliminates any utilitarian reading, positioning the works within a sculptural lineage while retaining the tactile intimacy of hand-built clay. The resulting figures evoke quiet, anthropomorphic presences, reminiscent of guardians or mythic entities, shaped through repetition and an intuitive, process-driven approach. In parallel, her Material Exploration series expands this inquiry through the use of tezontle, a volcanic stone intrinsic to Mexico’s built environment. Embracing the material in its near-natural state, these works foreground texture, weight, and geological origin, culminating in a series of sculptural and functional compositions that evoke fragmented landscapes. Together, these works reflect a heightened engagement with material specificity, where questions of function, form, and context are redefined through the conditions of the residency. Closed Forms is accompanied by a series of film photographs taken by the artist throughout her time there. Invited into this sculpture-focused environment, Sévigny-Martel embraced the opportunity to deepen her understanding of Mexican culture through shared space, dialogue, and material exchange with the artists and artisans around her.

Sévigny-Martel’s practice is grounded in an intuitive, process-led approach where making unfolds as an evolving dialogue with material. Primarily working through hand-building techniques, she allows forms to emerge through cycles of repetition, adjustment, and observation, resisting fixed outcomes in favor of gradual transformation. Her work frequently engages with the vessel as a point of departure, not as a functional object but as a familiar structure to be expanded, disrupted, or redefined. Across her practice, clay becomes a site for exploring ambiguity, where distinctions between object, sculpture, and artifact remain deliberately unresolved. This sensitivity to process and material results in works that carry a sense of temporality and presence, inviting viewers to encounter them as objects shaped as much by intuition and gesture as by intention.

Based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Edith Sévigny-Martel is a self-taught ceramic artist whose work operates at the intersection of contemporary sculpture and craft traditions. Her practice has developed through a combination of independent exploration, mentorship, and residencies across North America and Mexico, each context informing her evolving relationship to material and form. Working often in series, she approaches each body of work as a focused investigation, allowing ideas to unfold through sustained engagement rather than singular gestures. This methodology supports a practice that remains fluid and responsive, grounded in material inquiry while continuously negotiating the boundaries between function, sculpture, and cultural context.

Text by Erika Del Vecchio