Reinhilde Van Grieken

Ceramicist | Herentals, Belgium

Recommended by

Flanders District of Creativity

Telling her story through clay

Reinhilde loves to work with porcelain and stoneware
She enjoys collaborating with other artists and artisans
She loves the creative freedom that comes with ceramics

Reinhilde Van Grieken has always been very creative, ever since she was a child. She studied sculpture and ceramics at the Art Academy in her native town of Herentals and has since been working as a sculptural ceramicist. “I want to tell my story through clay. In order to do so, I often change my style and my technique”. She likes to create on the potter’s wheel, but also by slip-casting and hand modelling. “What really counts for me is to communicate my message. The composition is very important, and this allows me to bring the observer closer to my creations. I hope they can understand the subtlety of what I am trying to convey.”

Interview

Why do you like to use many different styles?: I am an artisan and an artist who uses craft to tell my story. I know that a signature style allows for quicker name recognition, but doing the same thing over and over is boring. I prefer to enjoy my work and surprise myself with new and interesting things.
What features characterise your work?: I often make dense sculptures, pure and rhythmically constructed with twisted clay bands. The simplicity of the work has to be intriguing. I am always looking for a technical solution to bring my idea to life. The concept remains, but the technical solution changes the result.
What do you love most about your profession?: The discoveries I keep making and which continue to amaze me. Collaborations with other artisans fascinate me, because new ideas come out of different ways of thinking. I like that.
Where do you get your inspiration?: World news is an important source of inspiration, it immediately changes the direction of my work. In my series The Rooster Crowed for the Sixth Time, for example, I address the difficult issue of the misuse of power and child abuse by the Church.

Reinhilde Van Grieken is an expert artisan: she began her career in 1995