About Me

About me and my work
I have been ceramist since 1995. I took courses and discovered several ceramic techniques. Raku was one of them as well as working with transfers.
I like raku because it is basic and very traditional. You follow the firing process and see the result in about 1 to 2 hours. My ceramic pots are decorated with ingenious and complex patterns in white and black. I rarely use a colour. Firing raku results in special and contrasting shades of light and dark unique for raku. Decorating my pots is laborious work. The dynamic effect of the decoration on the round form though is unusual. One sees depth with a strong optical illusion.

My work in process
I throw my pots on the wheel with a special raku clay. After throwing I finish the pot and push it a little off balance. The first biscuit firing (900°C) hardens the clay irreversibly and I can draw my decoration on the pot with a pencil. The curved form of the pot is broad at the belly and small around its neck making the drawing process laborious. I use a basic motif that can be applied in different ways and the result is different each time. The drawing is then filled in with glaze. I don’t just pour the glaze, but control the glazing by painting the glaze in a pattern on the pot. The white colour on the pot is glaze, the black colour is the unglazed area that blackens in the process of firing raku. Black is my second colour. I rarely use any other colour.

Other Shapes
Apart from the round form I design other shapes, for instance a high, straight form. The pattern continues on three of those forms, so that they look like one object. I also model and use plaster molds.

Russian Cathedrals We have travelled quite a bit in Russia because of my Russian speaking husband. I was inspired by the ancient architecture of cathedrals and cloisters in Russia. The golden domes are characteristic for the Russian architecture. Actually the Russian cathedrals and specially the palaces for the tsar in cloisters were my first inspiration for my geometrical work.

Figuratief werk I like black and/or white animals: cows, zebra's, pinguins, geese, dogs, etc. They do well in black and white raku of course. I model them, make a mold, copy them in different settings and also decorate them with my geometrical motifs. Specially the bust I make is sort of dressed with the motifs.

I decorate my beads with the same geometrical motifs in miniature.

Memberships
Nederlandse Vakgroep van Keramisten (NVK)
Cultuurbedrijf RiQQ (voorheen de Alliantie van Rhedense Kunstenaars)