Susanne Petzold, porcelain, catalogue, english, 2021

Susanne Petzold
Porcelain
2004–2020
text by Anke Binnewerg
musical preface by Susanne Petzold

Hands,
wooden bat,
stamps,
throwing tools,
slab roller,
needles,
brushes,
sponges...
Some tools for working with porcelain.
At times delicate and playful, at times dynamic,
sometimes turned on a wheel.
Sometimes pinched, sometimes hand built.
Sometimes loud, sometimes quiet.
Apropos.
Mostly driven by music.
In addition to the brushstrokes and engraved drawings of
artistic individual pieces on the one hand,
diverse hand-shaped ”porcelain bricks“ play with and conquer
the one or the other room.
Autumn 2020

kiln insight 2019

Musical preface _ PLAYLIST
Selection of albums accompanying me between 2004-2020
Kante – Zwischen den Orten _ 1997
Tijuana mon amour broadcasting inc. – songs _ 2003
flim – helio _ 2008
The Frames – burn the maps _ 2005
My Morning Jacket – Z _ 2005
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois _ 2005
The white birch – Come up for air_ 2006
PJ Harvey – Let England shake _ 2011
Solander – Passing Mt. Satu _ 2011
Mogwai – Rock Action _ 2001i
Owen Pallet – Has a good home _2005
litze – all you can eat _ 2003
Me and my Drummer – The Beak, The Hawk... _ 2012
tortoise – tnt _1998
Elbow – the take off and landing of everything _ 2014
Camille – Ilo Veyou _ 2011
Wildbirds & peacedrums – The Snake _ 2008
VUK – the plains _ 2009
Einar Stray Orchestra – Dear Bigotry _ 2017
Arcade Fire – Funeral _ 2004
Jose Gonzalez – Veneer _ 2005
Tied and Tickled Trio – Aelita _ 2007

”breeding station“ 2006

”rollercoaster in suitcase“ _ ”bray filter“ _ ”circus“ created while at the Archie Bray Foundation Residency, Helena, MT: USA 2006

”Islander“ 2010/11 _ ”Much ado about nothing“ 2004
From cabinet to cosmos
by Anke Binnewerg
An agglomeration of multifaceted small objects, woven
rings, goblets, and aluminum-based hat creatures interwined
with one another on different levels. Moving, lurking, playful
- these are the islanders. Are they miniature
architectural structures, a model of something, or perhaps
living creatures? Or all of this at once? Why does it seem
that the scenery changes when I look away?
In the 2004 Masters’ thesis
“The doctor’s miraculous cabinet”, the narrative, which
already present.
In fact, the cabinet was a fully equipped workshop that
included furniture, sounds of the workshop, drawings,
porcelain tools, and a multitude of enigmatic objects on
shelves.

”boat building“ 2010/11
A.B.: ”These pieces, such as Much Ado About Nothing,
are permanently mounted and seem enclosed, perhaps
due to the noble greenish celadon glaze. But the movement
was already present in a variety of forms,
proliferations, and overhangs.
The art pieces created during a residency at the
Archie Bray Foundation bridge two design styles.
They consist of individual parts.
I don‘t like to use the term sculpture, at least not for
an old suitcase filled with hand-modelled objects and
wheelthrown pottery, Rollercoaster in Suitcase.
Is this a toolbox or a sample set? Filled with Spare Parts
was the name of the first solo exhibition in 2005. This is
an apt description of these two works. They stand together,
apart. Nothing is fixed here, but only assembled,
waiting for further mysterious use.“

”pack I + II“ 2012
Disentanglement puzzle in porcelain
A.B.: “Completely wonderous for me is pack. At first sight
the arrangement resembles a construction site or an experimental
design, just like the previously created piece
boat building. In fact, it is an experiment on the subject
of what forms porcelain can take: lump, plate, tube, bow,
spun, stack, pure or glazed.
All of this is highly sophisticated, whilst loosely sketched,
refined and at the same time sensitive, so that spirit and
feelings are constantly moving in circles.
I see the porcelain lump, the raw material and at the same
time its finest shape, I see perfection and at the same time
the unfinished; I am looking for the meaning, an explanation;
I am captivated by the sensuality of the material.“

”stack on stage“, Stop-Motion-Animation 2012
Crossover autonomous
A.B.: “The animations stack on stage and pack leave the
impression in me that they were directed by the porcelain
cosmos. It has a life of its own and its captivating
plasticity have an even stronger effect as an image
in the electronic medium and exalt even stronger in
combination with music. Music is in fact an important
influence, be it as inspiration, as starting point or as a
theme. In the animations this becomes visible and audible.
The compositions were created in collaboration
with Mäandertal (Matthias Petzold) step by step in the
course of their creation.
In Let it burn it appears as if finally porcelain has made
itself independent. The installation consists of the video
pack and the underlying components - basically the
actors on site. In addition, there are new forms placed
on the dark floor, which appear as drawings. All these
elements seem to interact, are part of a strange hustle
and bustle and overcome material boundaries.
But that is not all.“

”pack“ _ “process“ 2012

LET IT BURN I 2012

LET IT BURN I Scenic atmosphere over moonscape 2012

LET IT BURN II Keramion Frechen 2012

CITYSCAPES – collaborative project with Anke Binnewerg, test in studio 2012

CITYSCAPES Weimar 2012
A.B.: “In cityscapes, porcelain finally conquers urban space
and fuses with plastic waste. The model-like scenery from
the landscapes - fired fragile pieces of porcelain and the
waste and packaging materials that I transformed into Last
City were shown in two kiosks of the type K 50
in Weimar and Steinach. A special feature of the series
showcased in the GDR was the use of a glass display case,
which led to a fusion between community work and the
surroundings.“

DOMINO pre-work for the exhibition, Kreative Werkstatt Dresden 2019

DOMINO detail, 2019
Reaching into space
A.B.: “The expansion into space has now finally succeeded
with Domino. The installation seems like an expansive miniature
world, whose various narrative strands grow into the
corners of the room.
Already known objects are integrated and transformed as
well as pallets, cardboard boxes and are integrated and
transformed as well as pallets, cardboard boxes and boards.
Even the floor and walls are overgrown by porcelain and
become part of this landscape.“

DOMINO exhibition view Kreative Werkstatt, Dresden 2019

DOMINO detail: ”bones and shards“ 2019

”8 × 11“ installation view, Künstlermesse, Deutsches-Hygiene-Museum Dresden 2020
A.B.: “By contrast, the 8 x 11 porcelain objects placed
in a rectangular grid on a dark floor, are different and
almost plain - like a semantic series of ring-shaped and
vessel-like bodies. It is indeed about modification, but it
is far from plain. It is the component parts that led a wild
existence in Domino, that are standing here in rank and
file - yet again one of those transformations!
Only now it becomes clear that each of the 88 parts
is a unique small sculpture of paper brittleness, which
despite its fragility has visible traces of the hands.
Then they have already undergone multiple modifications.
First the hands grasp the lump, they form it. Then
the hands organize, combine, stack, arrange, separate,
clench the objects in very different ways - influenced by
the occasion, a mood, a stimulus, music, an audio book,
found or serendipitous inspiration, and that which is
visible.
The outcome exists only in the moment.
Everything remains open, can move to a completely different
place and thus obtain a different meaning.“

”8 × 11“ elements between 2 and 8 cm high 2020

”8 × 11 in a box“ exhibition dismantling Künstlermesse, Deutsches-Hygiene-Museum Dresden 2020

”Floor drawing A–E“ elements between 5 and 20 cm long 2012

”MRS“ 15 × 15 cm 2011 _ ”Duplex“ 20 × 30 cm 2011

”PJ Harvey“ 24 × 19 × 3 cm 2011
A line in space – Spaces made of lines
A.B.: “The design forms an additional cosmos. Graphic
elements, which were always relevant and already present
in the objects, are given a unique value here – a renewed
transformation. They in turn intertwine with the space and
exhaust the cornucopia of possibilities. The shape and the
lines are interlocked.
So, the assemblages of MRS and Duplex framed in rectangular
form consist of an arrangement of incised colored
lines on porcelain plates with drawn porcelain elements.
In the floor drawing A - E, porcelain squiggles form the
graphic elements, placed on a dark background, creating a
playful drawing that constantly shifts. The works PJ Harvey
or LION are colored incised drawings with silkscreen elements
or ink drawings on a vase and a bowl.
These form a solid, albeit amorphous, painting background,
which is at the same time the painting’s inspiration.“

”spanned“ 24 × 17 × 5 cm 2012
A.B: “Yet the relation between space and drawing are not as
yet exhausted, as shown by the most recent assemblages
Four or Wave. The line drawings here are formed through
fragmented reliefs, which emerge from pouring plaster
casts with porcelain
– thus, again a multilevel transformation. They are partly
created from colored porcelain masses and other materials,
such as leftovers from the bucket rearranged and
seem like cult objects or alchemical objects with a secret
message.“

”

”LION“ 2014 _ ”XXO“ 2018 _ ”GHOSTS & PAINS“ 2017_

”Catwalk“ 2017

”Landscape“ porcelain assemblage with paper and ink, 20 x 30 cm _ ”Four“ _ ”Wave“ framed, 10 x 10 cm 2020

Resumé
1978 born in Dresden
1996 Abitur (A-levels)
1996/97 Internship at the Kunsthaus Dresden, Municipal
Gallery for Contemporary Art
1997/98 Studies of cultural education Hildesheim
1998–2004 Studies at the University of Art and Design Burg
Giebichenstein Halle,
Department of Ceramics with Professor Antje
Scharfe
2003 Six-month study visit at ANU in Canberra/ Australia,
studies with Professor Janet DeBoos
2004 Diploma for fine arts
2006 Foundation of studio
Artist-in-residency“ in Helena, Montana, USA with
the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts
Foundation for the Ceramic Arts
2008 Birth of son
2014 Birth of daughter
solo shows
2005 ”Spare parts depot, filled“
Galerie Kunstbahnhof, Dresden
2011 ”Porzellanspielungen”, Kunst im blauen Haus,
Frankfurt/Main
2013 ”leicht und luftig“ , Galerie Klosterformat Rostock
with Gudrun Hanisch
2018 ”Grafisches im Atelier ... Schmuck...“ Berlin
2019 ”DOMINO“ Galerie Kreative Werkstatt Dresden e.V.
group shows (selection from 2012)
2012 ”keramik³“, Kunstverein Jena
”Cityscapes“ installation together with
Anke Binnewerg,Kiosk Steinach and Kiosk.6 Weimar
”Keramikpreis Frechen 2012“
2014 Exhibition: Westerwaldpreis
2015 ”Geformt und Gebaut HWK MÜNCHEN
2016 ”Porzellanbiennale Meißen“, catalogue
Zeughausmesse Berlin
2017 KÜNSTLERMESSE Dresden
2018 ”Mysterien des Raumes“ results of the
Ceramics Symposium, Kreative Werkstatt, Dresden
„Punkt, Kreis , Kugel“
Galerie für Handwerk München, München
„Kunsthandwerk IV“
Merseburger Schloß, Merseburg
2019 „10 Positionen“ Keramik im Schloß Wiligrad
2020 Künstlermesse, Hygienemuseum Dresden
scholarships
2006 Eric Myrhe Summer Scholarship
2017 Keramiksymposium Schaddelmühle, bei Grimma
2020 DENKZEIT Stipendium der Kunststiftung Sachsen
awards
2006 Keramikpreis Frechen
2010 Second prize, Richard Bampi Wettbewerb
2011 Recognition at the Dießener Keramikpreis
2012 ”Von Taube Preis“ (porcelain)

collections
ANU School of Arts (Canberra, ACT, Australien)
Pinakothek der Moderne, München
Archie Bray Foundation of the Ceramic Arts. (Helena, USA)
Taoxichuan Center for Ceramic Arts, Jingdezhen, China
Keramion Frechen, Keramikmuseum Bürgel

Imprint
editing and layout: Susanne Petzold
photographs: Susanne Petzold
text: Anke Binnewerg
She was the curator of the first solo exhibition
”Spare parts depot, filled“ at the Kunstbahnhof Dresden
2005 and
contributor to the collaborative work ”Cityscapes“ 2012
pre-lace: Susanne Petzold
photo editing: Susanne Hampe
print: Reprogress Dresden
copies: 150 (german) +50 (english)
www.susannepetzold.de
Dresden 2020
Thanks to:
Annette Friedrich, Susanne Hampe
Helmut Stabe, Heike Berl, Anke Binnewerg
Axel Eilenberg, Matthias Petzold,
Gudrun and Tomas Petzold
Anabel Quan-Haase, Max and Bruce Morton
Magda und Josh Hjartarson.
The videos pack and stack on stage are available on
the video platform VIMEO.

The creation of this catalog was made possible by a grant from the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony.