“I got to know the cliffs of La Corniche and the Geopark and I was captivated”
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After studying architecture in her hometown of Bogotá and working in a studio designing houses for more than 20 years, Liliana Rubio decided to make a big change in her life. She came to Europe in 2008, settled with her family in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and, a few years later, in 2019, set up her own company as an art ceramist.
How does a Colombian come to live and work in Saint-Jean-de-Luz?
There were several reasons to change my hometown Bogotá for San Juan de Luz. It all began in 1989 with a captivating car journey through most of Spain. Then came my husband's acquisition of Spanish nationality. And finally, the rejection and the desire to get away from the violence experienced in Colombia in the 80s and 90s and the thought of my daughter's future. In 2008, we decided as a family to come and live in Europe, and chance led us to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Here I was forced to reinvent myself, to learn French and to give my second passion, ceramics, a chance.
How and why did you start making ceramics?
I was always interested. I was amazed at how, from a soft and malleable lump of clay, you could make pieces that could last forever. I often visited pottery shops in Bogotá and one day my interest led me to enrol in a pottery course where they only worked with stoneware and high temperature glazes.
How would you define your style?
My works always reveal the deep relationship between architecture and ceramics. Textures, the highlighting of natural stoneware, the beauty and mystery of high-temperature glazes, sculpture, painting and composition are always present.
In your boutique in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (23 bis Av. André Ithurralde), you exhibits and sells your work. What can we find?
First of all, it is located in a century-old Basque house in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, built in 1914 and completely renovated by me in 2013. In addition to the pieces on display, you will find a large mural of the Corniche Basque, installed above the old fireplace. You will also be able to see pieces in different stages of evolution to facilitate and understand the whole creative process. From soft clay, through stoneware in bisque or first firing at 980oC and finished pieces.
Flysch are one of your sources of inspiration. Why are you so interested in them?
When I first arrived in the Basque Country, I discovered the cliffs of La Corniche Basque and the Geopark and I was immediately captivated by them. The fact of having them so close to me has helped me to get to know them well, to value them and to see in them a unique geographical identity, marked as a symbol of this Basque land. This interest in the cliffs led me to work them in stoneware, and to express in my work the admiration I have for them, achieving with my Flysch Series to have the entrance door for the Art Galleries in Saint Jean de Luz, and today, to be part of the artists associated with the BLEU Gallery where I exhibit my works since December 2021.
You have even made a series with this inspiration...
Always topical, the FLYSCH series opens up an infinite number of avenues. Indeed, I can work on pieces in different scales, sizes, formats with the possibility to hang them on the wall, to exhibit them as sculptures or in murals, in any dimension, both indoors and outdoors. It is a Series made up of more than 300 unique pieces that is constantly expanding, contributing to highlighting a true and unique natural heritage such as the cliffs.
What do you like most about the Basque coast?
Undoubtedly the beauty of the Cantabrian Sea, the cliffs and the charm of the coastal towns and villages between Biarritz and Bilbao. Living in the border area, in a beautiful coastal city, feeling the love that Basque society has for its historical and geographical heritage, for its seafaring culture, has been very enriching. The sea today and always will fascinate me. I went from living in a city located in the middle of the Andes mountain range at an altitude of 2,600 metres to being less than 1 km from the great beach of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. I live between the mountains and the sea and this landscape will always be present in some way in my ceramic works.
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