Yusandra Manser, Ceramic Sculptor
Yusandra Manser was born in Burma and moved to Britain as a child. She studied
at Liverpool Art College and The Polytechnic, Wolverhampton.
Yusandra works from maquettes or sketches. She "paints" her pieces with a wide range of decorative glazes and slips to give them their impressive appearance. Her handbuilt clay figures portray characters such as knights on horseback, damsels, and mandarins. They have attracted attention for their highly individualistic
and intuitive style.
The chief influences in Yusandra's art are her Oriental roots and her appreciation of Western artists such as Picasso and Matisse. The richness of the meeting of the cultures of East and West finds expression in the figurative, almost abstract, qualities of her work. In recent years under the guidance of her tutor Megan di Girolamo.
Yusandra has gained a growing confidence in building large coiled sculptures.
Her work has developed in recent times to take even greater account of lines and rhythm. She is also experimenting with the use of such media as copper piping, feathers, and coloured glass. Each of these media works to harmonize with the fired clay sculpture to heighten its earthy qualities and subtlety of colours. Her other recent motivations have been Chinese mythology and the Aztec civilization: the richness of their culture has further enhanced Yusandra's creativity.
Her sculptures are suitable for both indoor and outdoor locations.
Outlets that have carried Yusandra's work include Liberty's of London, The jelly
leg'd chicken Arts Centre in Reading, and art stores in the Aylesbury and Oxford
areas. Yusandra has exhibited at the Bucks Art Week regionally in Buckinghamshire
over several years and her work is increasingly in demand further afield.
To view a range of Yusandra's sculptures, click here.