Beatrijs van Rheeden’s monumental porcelain / by Gertjan van der Stelt In: Ceramics : art and perception Issue no. 42 (december 2000), p. 17-19 When I am talking to Beatrijs van Rheeden (Groningen, 1965), she has just returned from Siklós in Hungary, the place she occasionally works since her studies there. 1400 degrees Hungarian ceramicists work in their individual studios just like the dutch do. But for several reasons some of them also work in one of the two ceramicstudios during symposia, preferably by invitation. These symposia are sponsored, so this is a good way to work for little cost. Another reason are the excelent facilities that these studios supply, up to date know how, a wide range of materials, larger kilns and different kilns, like the wood, soda and salt kiln. In Siklós they can make use of kilns that go to a higher temperature. The special porcelain that requires this high temperature is available only at these symposia, as the porcelain is a gift from the Herendi porcelain factory only at these occasions. This porcelain is apparently from Limoges, and can be fired in a reduced atmosphere up to 1400 degrees Celcius which gives it its perfect whiteness. Beatrijs van Rheeden also likes to make use of this opportunity: " I like to work in Hungary, and the herendi porcelain is a treasure it's so beautiful. In the Netherlands it is of course also possible to buy Limoges porcelain, but it is not the same porcelain as its top temperature is only 1280 degrees. In Hungary they call this a half-porcelain. In my own studio in Rotterdam I use the TM18, a Limoge porcelain I can fire up to around 1300 degrees, in a reducing atmosphere which gives it a pretty white and clear and translucent character. I have been told that this mine has been exhausted so I will have to look out for an alternative." Education She studied at the Art Academy 'Minerva' in Groningen, doing the teacher training course in crafts, and a year with Marja Hooft at the Art Academy in Kampen. In her fourth year in Groningen she visited Hungary through a student exchange programme, and there she learned a lot of new techniques and more about glazes. She was influenced in her work most by her professor Sándor Kecskeméti. "Actually I entered the art academy wanting to learn about drawing, I had no plans to become a ceramicist. But very quickly I discovered I needed to work three dimensionally. This is a gradual thing. All the techniques I use are slow. This gives me the opportunity while working to let my thoughts flow. Eventually the thoughts get back into my work" she says. Stoneware The initial starting point with van Rheeden is always form. Forms she built by pinching up the clay or by slab-building."Architecture was my inspiration and my objects were very strict and closed, and the material was less important than the form. Before I started to work I already knew what form I was going to make", she says. In 1997 she first experienced the material porcelain, and gradually her technique and way of working changed. She was hopefull that a different approach in technique would eventually cause a change in form. From 1999 her free pieces are all made in porcelain. Porcelain During her studies she already did some experiments in working the stoneware body up as thinly as possible. Now she wanted to find out what porcelain would mean to her."If you are going to work with a thin wall the transparent porcelain is much more attractive than stoneware. In the Netherlands people will throw the porcelain, or cast it or even work it with slabs, but pinch-building is very rare. I wanted to try this because it is my favourite technique", she says. Now technique and the material itself were the starting point for her forms. "The only thing I had in mind was some very thin walls, and how I might put them up next to each other without them falling down". Working the porcelain she soon came to rounded walls as being most practical. All the small partitions that bind the different walls together are there also for practical reasons: to keep the walls in place. "Compared to stoneware the porcelain is harder to push into the forms I like. But I discovered that I very much like the dialogue between the material and my own wishes" she says. "Porcelain is a beautiful material, so I try to show this by not glazing, not hiding my fingerprints. After the biscuit firing I do sandpaper the objects a little so that they are pleasant to the touch". Before the gasfiring, the final firing, she sometimes uses some oxydes, often cobalt, to highlight a little detail. Sometimes she washes the oxydes out again to give it a more subtle hue. Only during the work process did she discover the theme: contrasts, on the one hand the fragility, the randomness of the rim and the transparancy, and on the other hand the firmness in structure, the regularity and logic of the form. "Despite the fact that I have found a new technique and make very different kind of work I can still see the connection with the architectural in my former objects" she remarks. Couches Next to her sculptural objects she also makes ceramic couches in assignment. In such a case she pinches up about 300 kilos of stoneware clay in about five weeks which she fires at 1220 degreed Celsius. One such a couch she builds in one piece. When the clay is strong enough she cuts the form into pieces that will still fit together smoothly. She reassembles the couch and lets it dry like that, together. After firing, glazing and firing she will assemble the pieces on the spot where it will stand. "After architecture, design in all forms, but especially furniture has my interest. I always study them in detail and they can be an inspiration" she concludes. Back