Whether contemporary or historical ceramic art, everything starts with clay. Or, if you are in Wallonia near Andenne, with “la derle“.

Derle is the clay that has been mined under that name since the late Middle Ages in the Meuse valley around the towns of Andenne, Andenelle and Namur.

This clay was formed over millions of years by the chemical weathering of limestone, creating characteristic horizontal layers. Geologists refer to this as a karst landscape.

This summer, during our holidays, we wanted to discover the ceramic art of Wallonia . To get to the bottom of that, we felt it was best to pitch your tent on that very soil. No sooner said than done. This summer we were intimately acquented with la derle and the ceramics that are made from it.

In this and the next two blogs, I will report on that. In this first episode, we dive into clay… oops, I mean: la derle. 😊

Continue reading Contemporary and historical ceramic art in Wallonia, the derle clay →