3. Juni 2012 - New Ceramics

Antje Soléau
When Renate Hahn had a work placement with Inke
and Uwe Lerch in Kiel after many years working as
a foreign language secretary and a teacher, she had
found her vocation: ceramics. Then finally after several years as
a guest student at various art schools in Germany, she managed
to qualify as a journeyman potter. She had pursued her training
single-mindedly in her spare time alongside bringing up
her children and running the household. Then she managed to
achieve her major goal: she successfully took her M.A. at Alanus
University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter near Bonn. .
Following the trend of the times, she initially worked in
stoneware, making unusual teapots in highly idiosyncratic
forms. This was followed by “beaten“ objects, some in por-
Renate Hahn‘s subject has always been humankind
in all its various states, from birth to
death. Part of this is the examination of the
human body and with what it means to be a
woman.
The Transformations of
“Family“
porcelain, tissue paper, moulded, assembled
RenaTe HaHn
celain. After that came experiments with glass and ceramics
together, but also the anthropomorphic figures with the elongations
typical of Renate Hahn.
Over the years, the artist has distanced herself increasingly
from functional forms, as she has from heavy stoneware, turning
to delicate, translucent porcelain, with all the difficulties in
working it. At national and international symposia and residencies,
not only in Europe but also in Australia, the Far East,
North America and most recently in East Africa, she has enthusiastically
passed on her own knowledge as well as acquiring
new knowledge for herself, which has visibly and tangibly
made its mark in her work. This is true both of materials and
forms, as well as of content (cf NC 2/10, 5/10 and 2/11).
This was wonderfully demonstrated last summer in a solo
exhibition at the Siegerlandmuseum in Siegen with the title
“Immer an der Wand lang…“ (“Along the Wall…“). The space
available there allows almost only two-dimensional objects to
be exhibited. Renate Hahn successfully took up this challenge
– a slightly unusual one for a ceramic artist – as she has done
for years at so many locations all over the world.
Renate Hahn‘s subject has always been humankind in all its
various states, from birth to death. Part of this is the examina-
MAY / JunE 2012 NEW CERAMICS 15
PROFILE