ELENA MAHNO

                                                         is a ceramic artist splitting her time between Toronto and NY. She was born in Moldova and lived across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus prior to immigrating to Canada in the late 1990s. Her sculptural expressive forms are often inspired by the visual vocabulary across these cultural contexts and explore themes of identity, womanhood, and diverging life paths. She’s interested in capturing the hidden truths and ideological tensions of our daily lives and bringing them into tangible focus through the timelessness of clay.

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Her vessels have been part of the 1000 VASES in Paris and were recognized with the People’s Choice Award at Toronto’s DesignTO. Elena has taken instruction at La Meridiana International School of Ceramics (Florence, IT) as well as BKLYN Clay & Greenwich House Pottery (New York, NY). She holds a master’s degree in sciences from the University of Toronto with a focus on materials and their healing properties.