Nadia Stieglitz

Through organic and biomorphic shapes that trigger an inclination to touch, Nadia Stieglitz's artistic practice seeks to explore gendered notions of space, using three-dimensional objects to reposition the role of the feminine in the private sphere. Using traditional methods of slab and coiling to build each piece, the medium of clay allows the artist to explore her long-held sensibility for the textures and shapes at the intersection of nature and human form, drawing inspiration from the southeastern landscape where she now resides.

Stieglitz's practice is rooted in instinct and is free of analytical thought, allowing her to discover each piece as she builds. Through simplicity of materials—using found objects to structure each sculpture and only slips to create patterns—Stieglitz explores the creativity that can come from limitation. The raw finish that comes from the use of slip complements the organic shapes of the pieces.

Artist Biography

Nadia Stieglitz is a French-born ceramicist specializing in organic, abstract sculpture, working out of Studio Union in Charleston, S.C. From 2006 to 2014, she gained formal training in fine arts and photography through her studies at the Art Students League, the International Center of Photography and the School of Visual Arts. Since 2019, she has engaged in a self-taught ceramic sculpture practice, aided by two classes in hand building in Charleston, a workshop in Asheville, N.C., with Bandana Pottery, and another in the United Kingdom with James Oughtibridge and Rebecca Appleby. Since 2009, she has presented and sold paintings and ceramics to private buyers in Charleston and New York. In May 2021, Stieglitz was invited to show sculptures in her first public exhibit at Charleston’s Dewberry Hotel, as well as at a private home collection in Mount Pleasant with two other artists. In 2022, the artist will be a summer resident at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, Maine.