Etiyé Dimma Poulsen facts for kids

Etiyé Dimma Poulsen (born in 1968) is a talented artist from Ethiopia who is also Danish. She is famous for her amazing sculptures made from clay.

About Etiyé Dimma Poulsen

Etiyé Dimma Poulsen has shown her art all over the world. Her sculptures have been displayed in Europe, Africa, and North America. Today, she lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Her artwork is so important that it's kept in many museums. One famous place is the National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC.

Etiyé was born in Ethiopia. When she was six, she moved to Tanzania, and then to Kenya. Her adoptive parents were Danish. They moved the family to Denmark when Etiyé was fourteen. In Denmark, she studied art history at college. She also taught art to young people in different programs.

At first, Etiyé painted landscapes using oil paints. But she became very interested in making sculptures. So, at 23, she moved to France and started working with clay.

Etiyé Poulsen's sculptures often look like tall, thin people. She colors them with natural pigments. Her art gets ideas from traditional African art and the art of Oceania. But she says her own life experiences from different continents are also very important.

Poulsen once said, "What really... me is the different variations of human features." She also explained that the simpler her forms are, the more they express. If you look closely at her sculptures, you'll see that the faces get their feelings from a simple crack that looks like an eye or a wrinkle. She feels that through these cracks and broken parts, life somehow appears.

How She Makes Her Art

Etiyé Dimma Poulsen is best known for making thin, thread-like ceramic sculptures. She uses a special method. She puts a thin layer of clay onto an iron mesh. When the clay is fired in a hot oven, it creates figures that look old and worn. The cracks that form become an eye or a wrinkle. This helps give the faces their unique expressions. So, her sculptures look both strong and delicate at the same time.

Etiyé uses this method for most of her art. She feels a strong connection to how fire changes her sculptures. She says, "Fire is a creative element which models my sculptures all in their giving life."

Her Art Shows

Since 1990, Etiyé Dimma Poulsen has had many individual art shows. These have been in countries like Denmark, France, the U.S., Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and Switzerland. Starting in 1992, she also began to take part in group shows. These were held in places like Spain, Belgium, the United States, and France. Her work was even part of a special exhibition in 2003. This show was called Ethiopian Passages: Dialogues in the Diaspora at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.

Where You Can See Her Art

Etiyé Dimma Poulsen's art can be found in several museum collections. These include:

• The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, New York
• The Hans Bogatzke Collection of Contemporary African Art in Germany
• The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC
• Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey
• Hood Museum in Hanover, New Hampshire
• La Piscine in Roubaix, France

See also

In Spanish: Etiyé Dimma Poulsen para niños