Like compact, glossy, white machines of the future, Vianney Klausen’s abstract pieces quickly catch the inquiring eye of anyone passing by the working artist studio in Bedford. Klausen is laboring away this month as his LCVA showcase with Longwood seniors draws near in May. After welcoming me into the studio, we began our conversation about how his current artistic style had come to be and what it means to be a marketable artist in 2016.
Klausen informed me that what he is doing is actually considered a post-bachelor program which is a bit different from a typical artist residency program. “Most residencies are for 4 to 6 weeks.” Before leaving the university, Klausen will have worked for 7 months and have created 5 pieces to be shown at the LCVA. In 2009, after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in France, Klausen began to pursue a Master’s in Art History before moving to Quebec for 3 years to receive a Technical Degree of Ceramic.
This degree focused on creating series of pieces and learning about practices in professional craftsmanship. Klausen said he was motivated to get this degree because “I wanted to learn better technique to support my designs and be able to make better work.” Even during the one year in which he worked towards his Master’s in Art History degree, ceramics continued to call his name. Klausen said that every Sunday he would take one-on-one ceramic classes with a teacher and if given the freedom on an assignment, he would always choose to write his essays on anything related to ceramics or pottery, “I just loved the material, you know?”
Klausen’s heavy French accent makes it clear he is not native to the area, which led to one of my first questions -- “How did you find out about this residency at Longwood?” Klausen said, “In my last year in Quebec, I met Dan Molyneaux who was doing a residency at my school.” For those who may recall, Dan Molyneaux was the working artist at Longwood in Spring 2015. During the same year, Klausen and his classmates raised money to go to the National Council of Educational Ceramic Art conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At this conference Klausen met up with Dan and met Dan’s friends including Adam Paulek, Longwood’s ceramics teacher and now here he is!
Although Klausen has had his fair share of college education, he said that he was never taught enough about the business side of art. “I was never taught to register myself as an artist.” This is vital in order to proclaim yourself as a professional artist in a way the government in your country recognizes. This is an important process for an artist hoping to find a professional job in their field. “Artists are like businessmen in general. This job requires a lot of skills in various fields.” Klausen said he had to learn firsthand how to accurately price his own artwork and recognize the expenses of displaying work in galleries, many of which take 50% of the artists’ profit after a piece is sold.
When I asked Klausen, “How would you describe your artwork? Are there any underlying themes?” Klausen responded, “Recognizable.” With brightly colored lines that at moments resemble symbols spread across his relatively large ceramic pieces, I realize why these lines seemed to remind me of some sort of distant language. “I took 7 years of Chinese calligraphy.” said Klausen and this longtime hobby now shows itself in the surface design of his pieces. Klausen had a friend whose house was near a Chinese Friends Association, a place to help Chinese students make friends and adjust to the culture. Klausen said he has been drawing since he was a kid and clay is also another surface on which he can draw using various techniques like the Japanese technique mishima in which you carve into the surface. “My pieces are busy and talkative. I’m abstract I would say” says Klausen. “I like that border.” he says, the border between what the artist draws and how all people perceive it differently in abstract works. “I don’t want to be completely responsible for what people see. I want people to find their own things in my work.”
