╳ Although a trained Architect, in the 90s Valéria Nascimento stopped practicing architecture to focus on her art full time. She began holding exhibitions in Brazil, and has held over forty worldwide exhibitions to date. She has exhibited widely in Rio de Janeiro, at the Museu Historico Nacional, Museu do Acude and Rio Design Centre. In 1999 she moved to the UK and opened a studio with a kiln at her home. In 2003 she received her first large-scale commission from Wedgwood who requested an installation for the opening of their flagship store on Regent Street; and recently examples of Valéria’s work have been on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.╳ Nascimento’s art is all carefully hand-built and fired in her own kilns. Her work is strongly influenced by her origins in Brazil and is frequently based on natural and organic forms and geometric shapes. Her process explores the relationship between sculpture, architecture and surface. Repeated sequences can frequently be found in her works juxtaposed with idiosyncratic hand made parts. With inspiration drawn from nature, much of her recent works have been made from porcelain rather than stoneware which Valéria manipulates to appear defiantly weightless.
