On Vulnerability and Resilience
I work with burnable materials. My unique porcelain pieces are white and finished with layers of coloured slip or gold. I usually fire my works in a single firing; my signature and the year of creation are scratched on the underside.
The appearance of my works depends on how deeply I layer and compact the various media. I push these materials to their absolute limits until extrusions, cracks and roughnesses ooze out from within to the surface or form voids. Much like solidified lava flows or dried-out crusts of earth, my works reflect to me the vulnerability of nature, as it is exploited and disrupted by us humans, whilst at the same time reminding me of its resilience.
I work in series and with three-dimensional objects, and all my works are based on geometric shapes. I've named one series “eggs of life / ellipsoids”. While eggs symbolise new life, rebirth and fertility in cultures, myths and religions, I make the vulnerability of us humans clear in the “clutch” of breaking ellipsoids. Here, birth and death are as close together as my failure, my creativity and my resilience. Perhaps the geometric series lead an unconscious life of their own with my haptic memories, or present themselves as completely void of any meaning, like the “deformed circles on elliptoids”. Only at second glance do I spot handbags that I can take with me when I’m out and about. Perhaps my works are symbolic anchorages?
.Viewers can experience the seemingly imperfect surfaces of my works both visually and by touching the open structures. I invite you to choose your own personal interpretation. Perhaps my works are symbolic anchorages?
I discovered my passion for ceramics in the 1970s. After completing my training as a ceramist between 1977 and 1981, I set up my studio, keramik_art, in Vienna in 1992.
Winner of multiple international awards, finalist at numerous international ceramics biennials, and participant in international exhibitions, ceramics symposia and transnational art projects. Founder and President of the ICCA (International Contemporary Ceramic Art) association from 2004 to 2012; Vice-President of the Künstlerhaus, Austrian Artists´ Association in Vienna, from 2014 to 2022. Project development of #AHA 2025 Attitude.Asenne.Haltung.Attegiamento with female artists from Germany, Italy and Finland. The project was funded by the EU through Culture Moves Europe.
Member of the International Academy of Ceramics (AIC-IAC) in Geneva and honorary member of the Künstlerhaus, Austrian Artists' Association in Vienna.
