Scholarships 2019 : Ellen van der Woude

In 2019, Ellen van der Woude, a ceramic artist, was awarded a "De Mains De Maîtres" development grant.

In 2022, she embarked on a development journey to the Maison des Métiers in Quebec. (The residency was originally planned for 2019 but was postponed multiple times due to the health situation).

The Maison des Métiers des Arts de Québec (MMAQ) is a cultural organization dedicated to contemporary practices in the crafts. Located in the heart of Quebec City, it houses 25 workshops in ceramics, textiles, and sculpture spread over seven floors. Its mandates include training, research, creation, as well as the development and promotion of craft trades. MMAQ fosters the development and dissemination of knowledge and offers, among other things, residencies dedicated to craft trades.

Seeking to enrich and deepen her technical knowledge of ceramics, Ellen conducted research for four weeks, which included:

• Compiling glazes and studying the results obtained during firing at different temperatures and by altering the percentages of primary materials.

• Adapting to a new type of clay, the plasticity, resistance, shrinkage during firing, etc., of which she was not familiar.

• Exploring the development of textured surfaces.

• Establishing a connection with one of MMAQ's other disciplines: textiles.

The result was a sculpture made of ceramic and wool.