Born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, I am deeply influenced by my diverse heritage, with roots in both Italian and Indigenous cultures.
Over the past few years, I have turned to ceramics as a natural extension of my painting and sculptural practice. I do not favour the formal or the functional; instead, I embrace an amateur approach to the medium of clay. This consciously naïve perspective makes each object unique while sparking subtle conversations with artists as varied as Lucio Fontana, Asger Jorn, and Carol Bove.
For me, the repetitive acts of rolling, shaping, patterning, and painting slabs create a foundation for these dialogues, where accidents, gravity, drips, and slips are allowed to manifest boldly once they enter the kiln. It is this delicate negotiation between my intentions as an artist and the demands of the material that imbues each piece with its own precarious and poetic tension.
Born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, I am deeply influenced by my diverse heritage, with roots in both Italian and Indigenous cultures.
Over the past few years, I have turned to ceramics as a natural extension of my painting and sculptural practice. I do not favour the formal or the functional; instead, I embrace an amateur approach to the medium of clay. This consciously naïve perspective makes each object unique while sparking subtle conversations with artists as varied as Lucio Fontana, Asger Jorn, and Carol Bove.
For me, the repetitive acts of rolling, shaping, patterning, and painting slabs create a foundation for these dialogues, where accidents, gravity, drips, and slips are allowed to manifest boldly once they enter the kiln. It is this delicate negotiation between my intentions as an artist and the demands of the material that imbues each piece with its own precarious and poetic tension.
Nathalee Paolinelli is a Vancouver-based ceramic artist whose work explores the tension between fragility and resilience in the natural world. Inspired by the Pacific Northwest, she creates hand-built sculptural ceramics that evoke lichen, shorelines, coral, fungi, and forest patterns through texture, imperfection, and transformation. Embracing the unpredictability of clay and fire, each piece reflects a balance of intention and chance.
Rooted in her Italian heritage and connection to the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Nathalee’s practice evolved from photography and painting into ceramics. Crafted in small batches, her functional and sculptural works celebrate individuality, craftsmanship, and the quiet rituals of everyday life.
