Oktavia Schreiner was born 1991 in Salzburg, grew up in Berlin, rural Italy and the city of Linz in Austria and has been living in Scotland since 2017. She is a studio member at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios and received the Arno Lehmann Prize for ceramic 2020. She has recently been an artist in residence at Studio Pavilion and received the VACM Award, Glasgow. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Art and Design Linz and the curator and editor of ‘New Rituals, Neue Rituale’.
Oktavia`s work is predominantly in ceramic sculpture and installation. She makes iconic forms in ceramic, paints them with slips and glazes and combines them with wooden constructions. The images, forms and work titles tell stories of fragility, loss, order, healing, pleasure and the human (in)ability to orientate oneself in the world.
For the exhibition at 16 Nicholson Street, a new sculpture will be shown, which deals with the symbolism, stories and shapes of a religion invented by a young girl who tries to find her own truth while being torn between the strict Catholicism of her environment and her parents’ atheism.