News

We live together for a year and the little one is coming!

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Big news: the little one is coming! For more than a year I have been living with my new flame . But something was missing in our relationship… Besides my great love, I was looking for something smaller; because size certainly matters.

After in-depth conversations, we figured it out: our relationship would only survive if there was also a little one…

But how do you get a small one? We sought assistance from Keramikos. And they were able to help us immediately. There was a lot of choice, but in the end we agreed. The choice was made, the papers arranged. And Keramikos went to work for us.

And finally the time has come: we have a small Rohde 35 liter ceramic kiln, isn’t it a cutie? Together with my big flame: a 150 liter Rohde frontloading kiln, we now form a beautiful family….

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Inspiration, Personally

What should a ceramics lover visit in Amsterdam? Ceramics in the Rijksmuseum!

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The collection of ceramics in the Rijksmuseum is somewhat underexposed. Everyone knows “het Rijks” of Rembrands “The Night Watch” and other paintings. But ceramics enthusiasts will also get their money’s worth! Men with beards, women in blue, white gold and much more…

How much more? 7,250 more to be exact… Because that’s how extensive the ceramics collection in the Rijksmuseum is. Reason enough to start this new year off right with a fresh dive into ceramics history.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam 2 January 2023

Where do you dive in and what can you discover?

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Little Ceramics Thoughts

Ceraminations: Imaginations at Making Ceramics

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Imaginations come and go, the art is to recognize and preserve the Ceraminations . They are the ceramist’s treasure trove. Maybe not immediately, but after ripening they are worth their weight in gold, just like a good cheese…

Modern life is surrounded by all kinds of information flows. Books, social media, events and interactions: with Frodo (my parrot), my girlfriend, fellow ceramists and students. What happens to all that input?

With me it always comes out one way or another (rehashed). When I’m working, whether it’s preparing a (glaze) lesson, a ceramics blog or with my hands in the clay, small thoughts jumping around.

Sometimes everyday thoughts (is the garbage picked up today?), sometimes specific (making a series of pots in geometry of the molecules that clay is made up from?).

How do you keep all those references and perhaps (after maturation) valuable Ceraminations?

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Inspiration, Personally

Keramion in Frechen: When is a Potter’s Wheel a Pottery Museum?

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Keramion in Frechen celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. In all those years we still hadn’t visited this famous ceramics museum in Germany. But this summer we were in the area, so we could no longer resist the pottery sirens from Frechen.

Frechen, near Cologne, is one of the centers on the Lower Rhine where ceramics have been made since 1200. As in Raeren and the Westerwald, artisanal potters have fired “Rheinisch Steinzeug” (Rhine Stoneware) there from about 1400.

Keramion in Frechen, back
Keramion in Frechen, back

But at Keramion, the emphasis is on contemporary ceramic art. After all those historic pots, that’s exactly what we were looking for…

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Inspiration, Personally

Pottery museum Raeren, a Modern Pilgrimage for all Stoneware Potters

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In pottery museum Raeren (Belgium), you can feel the adventure, excitement and drama that has taken place beneath your feet. Stoneware has been fired in this border region near Aachen (Germany) and Vaals (the Netherlands), for 500 years, This stoneware pottery, “Rheinisch Steinzeug” was the first stoneware developed in Europe.

In the 16th century, this village grew into one of the largest stoneware centers in Europe. Raerens stoneware can be found all over the world. In museums and in private collections of ceramics connoisseurs.

Pottery museum Raeren , inside
Pottery Museum Raeren

Sometimes new finds surface. Literally from shipwrecks such as the “Vergulde Draeck” off the west coast of Australia. But mostly through excavations in Raeren itself.

If you want to feel the history of European stoneware down to your spine, you should visit the Raeren pottery museum. Even if it’s only once in your life… but more often is also allowed!

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Clay, Technique

What is Stoneware Ceramics? Is it Good or Bad?

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Stoneware ceramics were developed in Europe around 1400 in the Lower Rhine area. In cities/villages around Raeren, Cologne and Höhr-Grenzhausen all the ingredients were available. Suitable clay in the ground, wood for fuel and enough technical knowledge to fire the clay at an increasingly higher temperatures.

So in today’s Germany, they have more than 600 years of experience with stoneware. We can therefore take the folk wisdom of this type of ceramics seriously:

“Steingut ist Zeug, Steinzeug ist Gut”

In translation: “Stein” = Stone, “Gut”=Good and “Zeug” = Bad. In short, this German saying teaches us that: “Stone-Good” is Bad and “Stone-Bad” is Good? … Uh, how about that?

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Opinion

Raging Farmers Dancing on Raeren Stoneware

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The raging farmers dance, the farmers dance on Raeren stoneware pottery.

“WER SIN HOEPT WILT HALDEN GANSZ, LAS DEN HVNDEN ER BRVLVEFT ENDE DEI BVREN EREN DANSZ”

“Whoever wants to keep his head whole perchance, let the dogs have their wedding and the farmers their dance” (Raeren proverb 16th century)

Relief negative "der Bauerntanz" (pottery museum Raren)
Relief negative “der Bauerntanz” (pottery museum Raeren)

Raeren potters from the 16th century already warn us about the raging farmers during their dance. Let them run wild, let them dance. Even though it’s a dance on the volcano…

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Inspiration, Personally

The rise and fall of Raeren Stoneware

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Production Raeren Stoneware, circa 1550:

“Stop! No more wood, the white fire has been reached. Scoop the salt into the kiln.”

Men with faces covered in dirty rags, with blisters on their hands defying the caustic chlorine fumes that hang around the kiln like a white cloud. With tearful eyes they scoop kilos of salt into the kiln. Finally, the kilnmaster gives the signal: they can close the kiln.

For five days and nights they have fired a kiln with more than 2,000 pots. The work of many months is at stake. If this kiln fails, all will be in vain.

Not to mention the consequences for the pottery and the families who depend on it. Can the debt still be paid this month or will it be seized by the freelord?

Oil painting by André Blank: Raeren and the most important export areas (Pottery Museum Raeren)
Oil painting by André Blank: Raeren and the most important export areas (Pottery Museum Raeren)

How did a small village on the Lower Rhine develop into one of the largest producers of European stoneware in the 16th century? For that we have to go back to Roman times…

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Inspiration, Personally

Pottery Secrets Revealed: the Three Books of the Potter’s Art

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As the magician never betrays his tricks, so the potter guards his pottery secrets. The master whispers to his apprentice the necessary processing of raw materials. The ceramic alchemist keeps glaze recipes in secret writing.

More than once, pottery secrets have been lost in the grave . But mysteries have an unstoppable appeal. There are always researchers who unravel riddles and reveal secrets. This is also the case in ceramic art.

“Since I have set myself faithfully to show forth all the secrets of the art of the potter.” (Cipriano Piccolpasso “Li tre libri dell’arte del vasaio”1557)

Cipriano Piccolpasso "Li tre libri dell'arte del vasajo"1557

In this way Cipriano Piccolpasso still captivates the readers of his handwritten manuscript from 1557. In it he revealed the Italian majolica technique of the 16th century.

And by doing so, wrote the first ceramics manual in the world.

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News

Ceramics Fair Maaseik 2022, ready when you are…

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Sunday 26 June is the international ceramics fair Maaseik 2022. More than 100 ceramists in the center of Maaseik. A historic city in Belgian Limburg on the river Maas.

I am ready to show my latest work to ceramics lovers. They always visit this fair in large numbers. I will surprise them with new work, unique glazes and refreshing hand-thrown ceramics.

Ceramics Fair Maaseik

I have already set my tomtom to Maaseik. Also enjoy contemporary ceramics. Come by and say hello to me at stall 49!

Ceramics Fair Maaseik 2022
Sunday 26 June
9:00 to 17:00 hours
Market (centre) Maaseik
Entrance 2 euro (from 12 years)

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Inspiration, Personally

Love and ceramics: Beatrice Wood shocks herself

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Beatrice Wood (1893 – 1998) taught me more about love. Not the love for ceramics (I already have that), but the loves in life…

“I never made love to the men I married, and I did not marry the men I loved. I do not know if that makes me a good girl gone bad, or a bad girl gone good” (Beatrice Wood, 1985)

Something that never ceases to amaze me is how my interest in handmade ceramics takes me to every nook and cranny of life.

Glaze theory leads to the hidden world of quantum mechanics and the beginning (and the end) of the universe. Clay to the origin of mankind, the mastery of fire and the origin of civilizations, culture and art in every corner of this planet.

And ceramic artist Beatrice Wood to love…

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News

Where do we meet? At the ceramics fair Dwingeloo 2022!

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We had to wait a while for the international ceramics fair Dwingeloo 2022. But on Thursday, May 26 from 10:00 am, all ceramics lovers can indulge themselves again. Finally!

At de Brink, the heart of Dwingeloo, under the age-old trees, about 90 ceramists show their work, some of whom give a demonstration of their methods and techniques. In almost 30 years, this ceramics fair in the north of the Netherlands has grown into a unique ceramics event.

And yes: this year I will also participate in this festival. So come and say hello!

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[English] Handgevormd en gedraaid figuratief steengoed keramiek