Marie-Laure Teisseire
Contemporary wood, stone and metal sculptor
A contemporary sculptor in search of sensitive balance
Sculptural writing: forms, letters and language
Contemporary sculpture in wood, metal and stone: materials for dialogue
A multidisciplinary approach: sculpture, calligraphy, photography
As a contemporary sculptor, I like to explore contrasts, tensions and harmonies, oppositions that complement each other. Between shadow and light, the natural and the industrial, I seek a fragile, almost paradoxical balance, where each material, noble or crude, finds its place in a form of unexpected harmony, where each element reveals the other. In this way, shadow coexists with light, edges with softness, straight lines with curves, full masses with silent voids.
Over time, I came to realise that what I was trying to express in matter, I was also trying to express within myself. That's how the Middle Way, discovered during a stay in Sri Lanka, came to resonate strongly with me. It inspires me to adopt an inner posture as much as an artistic approach: welcoming dualities without freezing them, finding in their friction the impetus of a form, the rightness of an assembly, the evidence of a harmonious tension. It reminds me that beauty lies not in the domination of one element over another, but in their sensitive cohabitation.
In this way, my sculptures are born of this attentive listening to the materials and this desire to bring out a form that holds, that breathes, that says something about our human condition: made up of contrasts and paradoxes, but also of possible reconciliations. The middle way then becomes an invisible axis, a silent line of force around which my works balance and hold.
The works I create are often minimalist, sometimes enriched by a few details in gold, white or black, inspired by natural and organic forms, but also by typography and writing. I like to work with letters for what they draw in space and with words for their meaning: sculptural forms, silent signs, almost visual archetypes. I create hybrid forms in which we can guess a letter, a fragment of a word, an echo of language.
My sculptures combine solid wood (ash, oak, cherry, pear, chestnut, etc.) and metal, whether raw steel or the more noble brushed stainless steel. I also sculpt stone, marble, serpentine, etc. The choice of materials, the design of the abstract form, the introduction of the material with the saw, gouge, chisel or burin, then the polishing - from the rasp to the finest grit sandpaper - and finally the assembly: all these stages contribute to the richness of the approaches I explore and to the search for harmony between materials and forms.
This search for harmony also involves the intersection of several practices: sculpture, contemporary calligraphy, drawing, photography and sometimes inclusions. Each work becomes an attempt at language, an exploration of the sign, a space where duality is transformed into unity. I try to make each creation a place of contemplation, where the eye can rest, wonder, and sometimes let itself be crossed.
Wherever I look, I find a source of inspiration. In nature, I immerse myself in its organic forms, its innate balance, its quiet strength. I love its subtle elegance, made up of contrasts and nuances.
My inspirations lie in the unique and the unexpected, the flashes of beauty that emerge from everyday life: the finesse of a graphic line, the nobility of architectural structures, the raw strength of industrial forms. Letters, too, call out to me; each typography, each word, each poem carries with it a world of shapes and meanings that inspire me.
My work is fuelled by serendipity and unexpected combinations. I like to capture a detail, a light on a rough surface, a curve in a façade, a faded sign on a wall. I also like silences, empty spaces and unstable balances.
My inspiration: organic shapes, typography and everyday life
Between chance, light and emptiness: the poetry of details
The life of a committed contemporary sculptor
A dual education: art and science
Artistic Renaissance
My name is Marie-Laure Teisseire. I am a contemporary sculptor. I was born in Reims in 1970 and now live in Isère, in the heart of the Terres Froides region. Since childhood, I've had a taste for creation: drawing, painting, notebooks full of sketches, everything in me aspired to some form of artistic expression. I dreamed of going to the École Boulle to learn the arts and crafts, but life led me down another, equally demanding path: the sciences.
After studying pharmacy, I specialised in ecotoxicology. For a long time, I worked to understand the effects of chemicals on the environment, to explore the fragile balance between human activities and living organisms. This link between scientific rigour and respect for the natural world has never ceased to nourish my artistic sensibility.
In 2001, a seminal encounter with the sculptor Jean Barral Baron, in Isère, gave me the decisive impetus: I discovered sculpture in different materials, working with matter, the pleasure of a slow, profound, essential gesture. Then, guided by a need for meaning and signs, I trained in Latin and contemporary calligraphy with Marine Porte de Sainte Marie, a calligrapher in Savoie. I also explored zentangle, drawing and photography. These disciplines have enabled me to develop a personal visual language, somewhere between writing and sculpture.
But for two decades, my life accelerated, filled with responsibilities, and the time to create became rare, then non-existent. My vital energy gradually drained away, like an old pen forgotten at the bottom of a drawer.
In 2024, an existential jolt pushed me to change course. It was an artistic rebirth, a reconnection with my essential self. I decided to devote myself fully to my work as an independent sculptor.
Today, my work as a plastic sculptor is part of a search for a singular artistic language, where matter becomes memory, trace and passage. My work questions the relationship between human beings, their environment and my own inner self. Each piece embodies a sensory and introspective journey, an inner journey at the crossroads of words, shapes and materials.
I exhibit regularly in Auvergne Rhône Alpes and beyond, and take part in various group exhibitions. I create installations where the public is invited to contribute to or interact with the works.