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School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk

Display artist/maker:

Karin Hessenberg

Born: 1944, UK, England, Berkhamstead

Ceramicist. She gained a science degree at Nottingham University (1962-1965) and worked in medical research (1965-1970). A desire for a career change led to an application and acceptance at the Camberwell School of Art (1970-1974) where Ian Godfrey and Colin Pearson taught her, Pearson being a continuous influence on her work. Her first studio was within the Barbican Arts Group in London where she first burnished some of her thrown pots and sawdust fired them. An exhibition of these pieces, which combined smoke firing with original, well-thrown forms, was an instant success. An opportunity to travel to South American led her to Peru where she discovered Inca artefacts and architecture providing another strand of influence for her work. It then developed a more sculptural formal quality and stressed the firing process (1976). Porcelain, which she throws, cuts and assembles.and fires to 1000 degrees, not to translucence, offers a dense white field for the dramatic marks and effects of sawdust firing. Some pieces are decorated with orange London clay slip, burnished and sawdust fired to produce a black 'tortoise-shell' effect. Visits to India inspired her and she has incorporated coiled and slab work with red slip-poured decoration. Some pieces are handbuilt in stoneware with inlaid porcelain. She uses dry ash glaze producing colour combinations of deep blue and yellow or grey blue and white