Biography

Fernanda Cortes, a Mexican artist known for her sculptural works. She has a foundation in Product Design at The National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 2013, she was an exchange student at the ENSCI Les Ateliers: École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris. As she approached the end of her undergraduate studies in 2014, she was awarded a scholarship that led her to Canada. At the Université de Moncton Faculté des Arts Visuels, she wrote her dissertation titled ‘A Compendium of Mexican Cooking Utensils’. This academic year  not only deepened her understanding of art but also ignited a profound love for sculpting.

She pursued further education at the Royal College of Art in London. She was honoured to be granted the RCA Innovation Scholarship, which allowed her to immerse herself in the Ceramics & Glass Department for her MA programme. Her MA dissertation was titled ‘Clay and Suicide’. She explored and defined how the process of making is nourished by our life experiences, even those that can be perceived as brutal are fruitful for inspiring the process of making. She completed her MA in 2016.

As a sculptor of anthropomorphic medium-sized ceramic figures and the writer of their stories, her themes explore human moral dilemmas. She creates characters that traverse psychological states and navigate overwhelming emotional density, questioning the dehumanisation inherent in the human condition—a sort of contemporary mythology. She aims to explore how narratives shape mental imagery, and the skill required to transform them into sculptures enriches her storytelling.

She rents a private studio space at Sculpture Lounge in Holmfirth, and she also teaches at Sunken Studio in Leeds, where she imparts her expertise in throwing and handbuilding techniques. Balancing her own artistic pursuits with teaching responsibilities, she actively contributes to the ceramics community.

Statement

Using my imagination to create anthropomorphic forms, I seek to create figures that emerge from an overwhelming emotional density and question whether my subjects are marked by a dehumanisation that I apprehend as a general condition. I can only say that they hover in the realm of the in-between of human and non-human. Qualities swirl about in this realm, like infusions of light and dark, but invariably they loom in a state of abject otherness. In this state there is a quality of a fold of force and emergence in which questions are emitted.

Education

2016 - Master of Arts in Ceramics and Glass: Royal College of Art, London (UK)
Dissertation: Clay & Suicide (High Pass)

2014 - Bachelor of Industrial Design: National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Faculty of Architecture: Center of Investigation for Industrial Design, Mexico City (Mexico)
Thesis: Compendium of Mexican Cooking Utensils (High Pass)

2013 - Student Exchange: Université de Moncton Faculté de Arts Visuels, Moncton (Canada)

2012 - Student Exchange: École National Supérieure de Création Industrielle (ENSCI), Paris (France)

Selected Events

2023 - XVI Bienal Internacional de Cerâmica Artística Aveiro (Portugal)

2022 - Summer Exhibition: Sculpture Lounge (UK)
2022 - XV Bienal Internacional de Cerámica de Manises (Spain)
2022 - Common Disquiet: Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield (UK)
2022 - Sculpture Network, by Yorkshire Sculpture International (YSI)

2021 - Tzompantli: Reflexión artística: Consulado General de México, Austin (TX, USA)
2021 - Accessible Art Fair 2021: Online Auctions, curated by Stephanie Manasseh

2020 - Concurso de Pieza Única N.A.CE, Navarrete (Spain)

2019 - XIV Bienal Internacional de Cerámica de Manises (Spain)
2019 - Concours Jeune Céramique Européenne: Terralha, Festival Européen des Arts Céramiques, Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie (France)
2019 - 39 C.I.C.A, Concurs Internacional de Ceràmica de l'Alcora: Museu Ceràmica l´Alcora (Spain)
2019 – Camaradas, UK/Mexico Art Exhibition, in collaboration with the Mexican Embassy: Menier Gallery, London (UK)

2018 – House of Mexico, in collaboration with the Mexican Embassy: OXO Tower, London (UK)
2018 – Sculpture at Doddington Hall: Ceramics Exhibition, Doddington (UK)

2017 – MITLA: Place of the dead, Solo Exhibition: 67 York Street, London (UK)
2017 – Making Meaning: how death and burial inform the creation of meaning in life, London (UK)
2017 – Camaradas, UK/Mexico Art Exhibition, in collaboration with the Mexican Embassy: Menier Gallery, London (UK)
2017 – Collect, The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects: Saatchi Gallery, London (UK)

2016 – ING Discerning Eye Exhibition: The Mall Galleries, London (UK)
2016 – Fragmentos de Duelo. Conversatorio con Fernanda Cortés: Espacio Centro, Oaxaca (Mexico)
2016 – Young Masters Art Prize Exhibition (Cynthia Corbett Gallery): Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, London (UK)
2016 – Show RCA Graduate Exhibition 2016: Royal College of Art, London (UK)
2016 – Paper|Publication|Performance: Lychee One Gallery, London (UK)
2016 – Bienal UNAM Artes Visuales: Galería Antonio Ramírez, Mexico City (Mexico)
2016 – In Context: Preston Fitzgerald’s Private Home, London (UK)
2016 – The Emerging and the Established: Christie’s South Kensington, London (UK)

2015 – RCA School of Material Work-in-progress Show: Royal College of Art, London (UK)

2014 – RCA School of Material Work-In-Progress Show: Royal College of Art, London (UK)
2014 – Student Final Show: Université de Moncton, Moncton (Canada)