Susanne Kallenbach

Ceramicist

©Clemens C. Franke

©Perlbach Fotodesign

Ceramics for holding dreams

Susanne loves working with people
She has more ideas than she could ever hope to bring to life
Her work is influenced by local events

Susanne Kallenbach has developed a distinctive pottery panache focusing on simple archaic forms and rough and brittle but natural surfaces. "My style is relatively reduced. I have few shapes. Especially in the thin vessels, a lot is happening on the surfaces." Her work is often based on sketches and preliminary drawings, which frequently turn out differently when transferred to clay. For the German artisan, who studied ceramic arts at university, inspiration never runs out. “I compare it to the current of the oceans that carries a message in a bottle. You just have to fish for a bottle, take it out and open it.” She adds that she needs at least three more lives to produce the objects from all the ideas she already has.

Interview

©Clemens C. Franke

©Clemens C. Franke

Do you use pottery to connect with the community?: I love working with people and for over 35 years I have been teaching prisoners how to treat and transform clay. Most of the men have never made art. Working with their hands, thinking about shapes and forming clay calms them. It helps that I am a trained art therapist!
What dreams do you have?: I've already achieved a lot, and that's a nice feeling to have. One unfulfilled dream is a residency at the Archi Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Montana. It’s the Mecca of ceramics and a fantastic chance to work with great colleagues for a longer period.
Do you remember your first piece?: Named after a viking, Hägar, the Terrible Teapot, wasn’t my first piece but a memorable one. I had to produce it at university to get to the next course level. A teapot is a very complex shape and there was something very martial about it. I still have it.
Is there a local influence to your work?: Working in the brickworks, I spent ten years reproducing historical brick shapes under heavy physical labour. The work brought me closer to rough pottery. I work a lot in red clay or red brick because that's part of my environment and the local architecture.

Susanne Kallenbach is a master artisan: she began her career in 1986 and she started teaching in 1988