b. 1947
Born: Germany
Active ceramist: 45 years
Mentor/s: my professors during my studies: John Mason, Susan Peterson, Bill Mahoney
Why Clay?
During my art studies, I was exposed to various materials. At my first encounter with the clay, I felt an attraction that was then incomprehensible to me. Clay has a presence and a vitality that doesn’t compare to any other medium. It’s alive, it breathes and reacts, it changes and responds to every touch and while working with it a fascinating dialogue is created. This has been going on for over 40 years. Today I have come to recognize that the properties of clay correspond to the content of my work. Both encapsulate a marginal space which moves between opposites, and this allows for a vast freedom of creativity.
What do I want to convey?
Through clay I am trying to tell the story of my inner journey of discovering my identity as a person and as an artist. Since my family emigrated from Germany to the United States when I was young, I was left with a feeling of a lack of clarity as to my belonging to a place and a culture. Through my work I discovered that my natural place is on the seam, and so my work moves in a space which is in-between: between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional, between reality and illusion.
What characterizes my work process?
The inspiration for my work comes from places which move me and to which I feel a connection: from architectural elements to works of art from different periods and different disciplines. The preparatory work is accompanied by lots of research and many sketches. Before I touch the clay, I prepare paper cutouts which serve me as templates for my slabs, which then get joined into tri-dimensional, clean and exact bodies without any sign of the maker’s fingerprints. The coloring is as well monochromatic, intended to not distract from the concentration on the object and from the dialogue which happens between the two-dimensional surface and the three-dimensional form.
My tools of choice… Can’t create without them:
Slab roller
Absolutely necessary in my working environment:
Order, quiet, a window into the garden, and again quiet
