"Fine Mining" Laura Isselhorst. Steel, porcelain, metal glazes, 60x60x80cm. Photo (c) Lea Fabienne. 2025
Fine Mining
Fine Mining is an abstraction of a chandelier, showcasing metal glazings. Combining lasercut metal sheets with handmade ceramic
pearls, it creates a dialogue between rigid precision of industrial fabrication and handmade precision in craft.
The work explores metal as material, traditionally valued for strength and utility, rather than color. Yet, metal oxides and carbonates, such as copper yielding deep greens, or cobalt firing into rich blues, are fundamental to ceramic glazing. Here, metal is reconsidered not just as structure, but as surface, pigment, and expression.
Historically, chandeliers signified opulence, placed in grand spaces. Cellars, by contrast, were spaces of function, rarely adorned with decoration. Fine Mining occupies the void beneath the circular keystone, drawing attention to industrial extraction of metals, symboling European wealth tied to colonial histories, and their complex relationships with labor and resource exploitation.
Photos © Lea Fabienne. 2025
The work explores metal as material, traditionally valued for strength and utility, rather than color. Yet, metal oxides and carbonates, such as copper yielding deep greens, or cobalt firing into rich blues, are fundamental to ceramic glazing. Here, metal is reconsidered not just as structure, but as surface, pigment, and expression.
Historically, chandeliers signified opulence, placed in grand spaces. Cellars, by contrast, were spaces of function, rarely adorned with decoration. Fine Mining occupies the void beneath the circular keystone, drawing attention to industrial extraction of metals, symboling European wealth tied to colonial histories, and their complex relationships with labor and resource exploitation.
Photos © Lea Fabienne. 2025
Fact Box
Fine Mining
Categories
Part of
Date
June 24, 2025
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Students
- Laura Isselhorst (Curatorial team and exhibiting artist)
Pariticipants