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Porcelain Narratives: Sculpture, Installation, and the AVE Choir

A sculptural exhibition and immersive installation by ceramic artist Tanya Besedina, created in collaboration with the AVE Choir and supported by the City of Toronto and the Ontario Arts Council.

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Porcelain Narratives: Sculpture, Installation, and the AVE Choir

Porcelain Narratives was a sculptural exhibition and immersive installation series by ceramic artist Tanya Besedina, created in collaboration with the AVE Choir. The project was supported by the City of Toronto and the Ontario Arts Council.

The work brought together hand-shaped porcelain, light, and live sound to explore memory, ancestry, and human connection. Translucent porcelain forms, organic shapes, and found objects each carried their own history.

The Sculptures

Two conical white porcelain figures with child faces and textured surfaces, leaning toward each other with foreheads touching, small white pebbles scattered at the base

Oval porcelain wall sculpture with a textured border of child faces and two raised hands connected by a delicate gold chain

The sculptures were hand-built from porcelain. The material itself was part of the language: thin enough to let light through, fragile enough to hold attention.

The Installation

Found furniture and everyday objects became part of the work. Stacked vintage suitcases with ceramic pieces placed on top. A blue chair with a mushroom cluster growing from the seat.

Tanya Besedina in a blue dress standing beside stacked vintage suitcases with ceramic sculptures on top, a china cabinet with teacups visible on the left

Blue wingback chair with a white ceramic mushroom cluster sculpture placed on the seat

Tanya Besedina and another woman kneeling beside the blue chair and ceramic mushroom sculpture

The Performance

The AVE Choir performed as part of the opening. Voices and porcelain in the same room.

A soloist in a white dress performing with the AVE Choir in black and white behind her

Wide shot of the full AVE Choir in a semicircle with the soloist in white at the center, audience visible to the side

AVE Choir members posed on a staircase landing, photographed from above, wearing black outfits with white butterfly pins

Opening reception with Tanya Besedina and a speaker at the microphone, AVE Choir members in black and white behind them

Round table set with croissants, pastries, fruit, and vegetables at the opening reception

Supported by the City of Toronto and the Ontario Arts Council.

Also see Remembrance Every Day, another community ceramics project by Tanya Besedina.

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