special exhibition

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Claude Champy was born in 1944 in Plaisir where he still lives. After failing his Bac, the French equivalent to the Abitur, his parents, who previously had opposed any idea of an artistic career, finally relented and allowed him to study art. After a preparatory year in the Parisian studio of Penninghen & Dandon, he followed the four year curriculum of the Ecole de Mėtiers d´Art, then housed in the Hôtel Salė, the future Musėe Picasso. In 1968, he founded his studio in the outbuildings of the parental property and rapidly became know as one of the key figures, along with several other students from the same school, in the renaissance of French ceramic art. His early pots were only exhibited in France but his participation in the 1976 Vallauris Biennale introduced his work to an much wider audience. Ever since, his art has been increasingly acknowledged as one on the most singular achievements of the international contemporary ceramic art scene.