Maja Padrov

Maja moved to Canada in 1997 from Serbia, and graduated from the NBCCD with diploma in Studio Ceramics in 2001.

She has been working with clay professionally over the last 20 years as a studio artist, and has worked as a part time instructor at NBCCD.

She attended and taught numerous workshops in Canada, United States and Europe, and participated in ceramic residencies in Canada, Hungary, Serbia and France.

Maja received several grants and awards from the New Brunswick Arts Board, Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Canadian Clay and Glass Association. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is part of public and private collections in North America, Europe and Asia.

She lives in the Village of Gagetown in New Brunswick, acknowledging that the land on which she lives and works is the traditional unceded territory of the Wəlastəkwiyik Peoples.Maja

“Inspired by functional pottery and domestic objects, my recent work consists of numbers of lidded jars or small bowls of different geometric shapes, connected by their bodies or lids. I take simple elements and join them in ludic, illogical, theatrical compositions that produce unexpected visual displays of a familiar object. I often change the method of making, proportions and appearance of elements, so the function, if it exists, is not always obvious. The function is sometimes emphasized and sometimes concealed, aiming for intuitive connections. When creating my work I am also engaging in a dialogue with the existing vernacular of vessels and utilitarian forms. I like to combine parts that are challenging to assemble and often try to push the material to do what is not naturally inclined to do.” Maja Padrov