Maria Pol is a Swiss-Italian sculptor specializing in experimental ceramic techniques. After a career as conservator of ethnographic objects, she immersed herself in the creation of ceramics. Her body of work explores our contemporary material culture and socio-political topics shaped by the impacts of climate change and excessive consumption of plastics and other waste materials. She uses compelling associations to her personal experiences in the art world, observations of her everyday and research, often using clay as a material to conserve present realities, evoking an allusion to archaeological records of our time.
In 1985, she pursued studies in conservation of ceramics in Florence (IT) before taking up work placements and trainings in multiple European museums, including the Musée de Sèvres in Paris, the Roman Museum in Avenches, the Antikenmuseum in Basel, the Swiss School of Archaeology (ESAG) in Greece and the British Museum and the Hornimann Museum in London. She worked long-term in Geneva at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (MAH) and at the Museum der Kulturen in Basel as conservator of ethnographic objects.
She worked part-time as a freelancer and went to Alexandria in Egypt for the conservation of pieces that have been exhibited at the Institut du Monde Arabe and the British Museum for the exhibition Osiris and Sunken Cities.
She has a diploma as music teacher and had numerous millinery exhibitions and hat shows between 1999-2007 – including borrowing her headdresses and accessories to Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler’s fashion shows.
Since 2015 she has dedicated herself predominantly to the creation of ceramics. She attended several ceramic training courses in London at the Morley College, the Westminster Adult Education Service, and the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, and participated in courses tutored by John Colbeck, Shozo Michikawa and Rié Tsuruta. In 2017 she was selected to participate in an intensive 3-month pottery course in Tuscany. In 2018 she pursued an academic year at the Institut Européen des Arts Céramiques in Guebwiller (FR) and graduated with a certificate titled Créateur en Arts Céramiques.
In 1985, she pursued studies in conservation of ceramics in Florence (IT) before taking up work placements and trainings in multiple European museums, including the Musée de Sèvres in Paris, the Roman Museum in Avenches, the Antikenmuseum in Basel, the Swiss School of Archaeology (ESAG) in Greece and the British Museum and the Hornimann Museum in London. She worked long-term in Geneva at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (MAH) and at the Museum der Kulturen in Basel as conservator of ethnographic objects.
She worked part-time as a freelancer and went to Alexandria in Egypt for the conservation of pieces that have been exhibited at the Institut du Monde Arabe and the British Museum for the exhibition Osiris and Sunken Cities.
She has a diploma as music teacher and had numerous millinery exhibitions and hat shows between 1999-2007 – including borrowing her headdresses and accessories to Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler’s fashion shows.
Since 2015 she has dedicated herself predominantly to the creation of ceramics. She attended several ceramic training courses in London at the Morley College, the Westminster Adult Education Service, and the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, and participated in courses tutored by John Colbeck, Shozo Michikawa and Rié Tsuruta. In 2017 she was selected to participate in an intensive 3-month pottery course in Tuscany. In 2018 she pursued an academic year at the Institut Européen des Arts Céramiques in Guebwiller (FR) and graduated with a certificate titled Créateur en Arts Céramiques.
