Accreditation
Member - Conseil des métiers d’art du Québec (CMAQ)
Member - Centre Materia (Québec)

Grants
Research & creation, The Canada Council for the Arts, 2019-2020
Production, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, 2020-2021

Exhibits
Galerie La Guilde, Montréal, 2020 & 2021
Centre Materia, Quebec, 2020

Collections
Private collections in Canada

Boutiques and galleries
Montréal, QC - Galerie La Guilde www.laguilde.com
Toronto, ON - Souvenir Studio http://www.souvenir-studios.com
Bloomfield, ON - Guildworks www.guildworks.ca

Bio

Mélina Schoenborn lives and works in Montreal. After studying art history and visual arts at the Université de Montréal, she became interested in ceramics after taking turning lessons with Marie A. Côté.  An apprenticeship in Thailand with Komol Kongcharoen allowed her to explore other types of  clay.  In 2017, she became enamored with the technique of coiling which she discovered while training with the French ceramist Virginie Besengez.

The technique of coiling is a very old one and does not require the use of a potter's wheel or mold. Schoenborn’s works, made of either porcelain or sandstone, are sculpted by hand using clay coils placed one on top of the other.  With the help of her hands and a small tool (a potters rib), Melina slowly gives life to the form of her works layer by layer. 

Schoenborn’s use of the technique however involves refining her sculptures with a scraper to reduce the thickness of the walls. How much clay can be shaved away before the wall cracks, collapses?  The earth comes alive under the hands of the sculptor yet imposes its limitations, a delicate duel between the artist and her materials.  The finished works are bare, without glaze, in a tribute to the purity of material and form; under the hand, the clay is porous, sensual, alive.  The works that are born from this game seem as fragile as paper yet, sitting in their poetic and natural inclinations, occupy the space with the force of their singularity.