past
I grew up in East Germany, in a small village near the Polish border. By the time I finished school the Berlin Wall had come down and I got an apprenticeship as a gardener in a tree nursery close to home. I always had a love for nature and plants and followed the gardening career path for most of my adult life in Germany and also after I moved to Ireland in the year 2000.
Around 2006 I went to my first ceramic hobby class with Catriona Varley and for the next fourteen years I continued to take hobby and QQI (Irish certificate) courses whenever I had the opportunity. Catriona taught me how to hand-build with clay and all the basics of the ceramic arts. She is passionate about teaching ceramics and I could not have imagined a better teacher.
I more and more realised that I have a greater need for expressing myself creatively than my gardening job could provide.
I decided to turn my hobby into my work and vice versa.
I worked part-time for four years and learned as much as I could about running a small business. My partner, a gifted handy man, built a small workshop and kiln shed for me and in 2021 I bought an electric kiln and a treadle wheel.
present
My main interest lies in making functional stoneware, items that are used and touched in every-day life. I’m striving to create pieces that express beauty, balance and simplicity. A dish or a vase shall not grab the attention away from food or flowers that it holds, but rather serve as a base or backdrop. The subtlety of stoneware glazes (browns, blues, creams and greens) suit my objectives perfectly.
Despite my striving to create pots that express simplicity, I love decorating their surfaces using oxides, slip, sgraffito and wax resist. It’s a balancing act not to overdo decorations on functional ware.
Sneem, where I live, is nestled in one of the most beautiful countrysides in the world. Rugged landscape, tidal sea, vibrant nature and dynamic weather provide an infinite source of inspiration for the creative mind.
future
Mastering a craft is a life time task and even though I made many pots over the years I feel as though I’m just at the beginning. Thomas Stearns Eliot once said “The journey not the arrival matters”. If I can create beautiful pottery, along with improving my skills and gaining knowledge, I shall be perfectly content.
In 2019 I started throwing pots on the potter’s wheel and in May 2021 I bought an old second-hand Woodley’s treadle wheel. Once restoration work is complete, I will continue to practice throwing. Simon Leach created a large archive of tutorials on his YouTube channel, I mostly learned throwing by watching his videos.
In all of the ceramic classes I attended so far we used an electric kiln to fire the pieces. It is common practice to do two firings, in the first (= biscuit firing) the clay is fired to about 950°C. In between the two firings the liquid glaze is applied. When producing stoneware, the second firing (= glaze firing) can range between 1200°C and 1300°C, depending what clay body and glaze you use.
I want to learn more about single firing and raw glazing and cut out the time and effort spend on making biscuit ware. For most of the pots I’m making, the biscuit firing is unnecessary and interrupts the flow of the creative process.
Wood-firing pottery in reduction is something I’m fascinated with and want to learn about. My dream is to build my own wood-fired kiln one day.
If you’re interested in seeing more photographs and short films about my work, you can also follow me on Youtube or Instagram.