Texts about Toewe

Christiane Toewe

Studioporcelain Bamberg

Ten years of training in all areas of ceramics, design theory and media design, characterized by curiosity and experimental enthusiasm, characterize the exciting path of an artist who is constantly prepared for new challenges and passionately devotes herself to the material porcelain.

From small and fine objects to large and filigree porcelain sculptures, she constantly develops new forms and gives them content. The charm of translucency, combined with a balancing act of technology, the feeling for playing with the material and the sheer joy of creativity have paved the way for new works that have been created continuously since 1990.

In combination with light, the aesthetic atmosphere of filigree porcelain is enhanced. The luminous objects disappear in their own light and transcend the limits of materiality. The shadows and light reflections that the objects cast on the wall, the interaction between the sculpture, the viewer and the space reinforce this impression.

The expansive porcelain installations are impressive. The museum works are mostly designed with programmed, modeled light and fill the space. They describe socially relevant content. Due to the superficially perceived aesthetics, one only discovers the deep meaning of the works at second glance. The confrontation with social, political and existential issues creeps in via the aesthetic effect.

The artistic statements are supplemented by sound, LED technology, photos, graphics and/or videos.

Floor lamps and hanging lamps enrich the work and private rooms of all those who appreciate light.

Since 1994 in Bamberg/Germany, the works of Toewe Studioporzellan have found their way into the world.

„How to fly“

Teaser for the third solo exhibition in 2022 by Christiane Toewe in the Wechterswinkel/Rhön monastery.

https://kultur.rhoen-grabfeld.de/museen-und-spielstaetten/kloster-wechterswinkel/ausstellungen

White gold in "how to fly" by Dr. Astrid Hedrich-Scherf

For 5000 years man has been forming vessels from earth - first useful vessels, later the first cult objects. Then, about 700 years ago, porcelain was discovered in China. In ceramic production, it quickly outweighed the alumina that had been customary until then, which is due to the extraordinary properties of porcelain - thin-walled, translucent, i.e. translucent, and white!

From small and fine objects to large and filigree porcelain sculptures, Christiane Toewe is constantly developing new forms and content. The charm of translucency, combined with a balancing act of technology, a flair for playing with the material and the sheer joy of creativity have resulted in new works continuously since 1990. In combination with light, the aesthetic atmosphere of filigree porcelain is enhanced. The luminous objects disappear in their light and thus overcome the limits of their own materiality.

In the Wechterswinkel monastery, the porcelain works of art and installations can be seen on three floors. In addition to the exhibition area on the ground floor, which deals with questions of mobility, memory and environmental destruction and objects react to the movements of the visitor, Toewe's 3D animated works in the concert hall of the district cultural center attract attention. Here our hearts are in demand on issues of migration and terrorism. It's raining under the roof. The floating "human" body cells in porcelain allow for meditative moments. A few insects have taken a seat on golden pillars. Next door, 150 interactive porcelain objects, the "whispering bottles", are made to communicate with each other via acoustic signals. They react to noises and conversations in the exhibition space - they are a reflection of the society around them.

„How to talk“

BR Report on the exhibition in the Stadtgalerie Schwarzenbach/Saale

By Annerose ZuberBR24 editors

The heart of a Bamberg artist beats in porcelain

Plates, cups, vases: porcelain is the material of everyday objects. But the "white gold" can do much more. An artist from Bamberg, who once studied in the motherland of porcelain, wants to prove that.

In the old town hall of Schwarzenbach an der Saale, an oversized porcelain heart is currently hanging from the ceiling. A real heart is projected onto it with the help of a projector, the coronary arteries are clearly visible on the white porcelain heart. The installation is part of an exhibition by the Bamberg artist Christiane Toewe.

Lamps and lithophane: porcelain is versatile

Toewe produces luminous objects and spatial installations from porcelain and wants to reach almost all of the senses with her art, which can be seen in Schwarzenbach an der Saale until September 4th. Toewe has been working on her heart in her studio in Bamberg for about a year and has also immersed herself in medical textbooks. The artist wants to prove that porcelain is not just an everyday object.

Whether as a pendant lamp above the dining table or as a museum object - the trained master ceramist and multimedia designer produces luminous objects in different shapes and sizes and uses very different techniques: lithophane, for example, a relief representation that only unfolds its effect in backlight. Or sgraffito, painting, perforation and deep reliefs, as in some of the exhibits in Schwarzenbach an der Saale.

Artist Toewe travels internationally.

The 63-year-old is in demand as a lecturer – especially in China. In the beginning she traveled to the motherland of porcelain for her own study purposes and today she flies there again and again. Toewe has now made a name for herself as an artist worldwide. This is evidenced by awards from Egypt, India, for example, or the invitation to the current Porcelain Biennale in Meissen. At the UN Biodiversity Conference in China, Toewe was recognized for two works on climate change.

BR 2 radio report on the exhibition.

 „How to feel“

Laudation by Dr. Stefan Mayer, (1st Chairman of the Kunstverein Bayreuth) on February 13th, 2022"... endless list of exhibitions and participation in exhibitions...

As early as 1989, however, a series of prizes and awards began, which has now reached a high point with the "Masters Choice" for the works AMOEBA and VIRUS. If you look at the artistic career, the training, the master school, the design theory, the multimedia design studies, the residency in China, it quickly becomes clear that the work here is at the highest level of craftsmanship and design - but there is another essential aspect in the work Toewes, which is not explained by the history. Technical perfection, masterful control of the material and skilful use of media are the basis, but not necessarily a guarantee for high artistic quality. And this is exactly where another quality of her work comes into play. (Let's take a closer look) "How to feel" is the title of the exhibition. Is that a question, a statement or an invitation ... to think about how we ourselves are, right now, here in the exhibition ... when we for example look at a porcelain heart suspended with threads, feel us... or could feel or perhaps should feel? We ask ourselves: What is the relationship between the depiction, i.e. the porcelain heart, and the fragile material from which it is made and the fleeting projection that it carries itself? How does the projection, the film with realistic-looking images of a supposed reality, change our perception of the object? What would happen, for example, if we simply switched off the pulsating rhythm? And: How long can an extremely fragile porcelain heart survive? ... long, longer than its referent - the real human heart, whose lifespan in relation to porcelain arte thousands of years old facts seems vanishingly small. Or: how "can" or how "should" we feel when looking at the cloud images? How long do we remember associating places (weather conditions or conditions) with a given date? When was white and blue sky? Who thinks that the glorious, radiant sky above us on July 20, 2016 was the same as above the terrible attack in the Olympic Center in Munich. Sky, all skies are the same is the title of the picture series. Mare Norstrum, that's the name of the centrally placed works. It shows us a blue, moving horizontal projection surface. On it are fragile forms made of porcelain – they touch the unreal surface like snowflakes. They are fragile messages that like. helpless flotsam spinning aimlessly on an unfathomably deep surface of water.

Mare Nostrum, a not unencumbered term in Italian history until then, is the name of an operation by the Italian Navy from October 2013 to October 2014, in which more than 150,000 refugees from the Mediterranean were rescued. Christiane Toewe's work invites us in a multi-sensual way - we see and hear, but we can also feel the surfaces of the porcelain objects and the fragility of the material - it invites us to delve into a spectrum of feelings (about human tragedy and political absurdity). . It is difficult to resist this urgent request. Here we experience the very quality I spoke about at the beginning, the quality that goes far beyond technical and craftsmanship perfection. Christiane Toewe manages to express themes of our time and to bring them into a form. And by that I don't just mean shapes for aesthetic pleasure, but also shapes that have a challenging character. We are actively asked to think about what we are confronted with (... what evokes feelings in us), ... but that's not all, we are asked to ultimately think about how things are with us. We are jerked out of lethargy and indifference and asked urgently: where do you stand, what is your belief?"



Berganza award ceremony

Speech by Mrs. Dr. Barbara Kahle (1st Chair of the Bamberg Art Association)

This year we honor Christiane Toewe, artist and frontwoman for art in general and in particular; actually I don't really have to introduce them to you. She is known far beyond the city and country - to the land of the rising sun -, known for her magical glowing porcelain objects, for large installations with light objects, completely innovative, if you think of the "whispering bottles", for her photo series as well for her work in multi-media design. Since 1994 she has been running her own studio for studio porcelain in Hainstraße, which is a magical attraction for many visitors, especially in the run-up to Christmas. Continuous exhibitions in Germany and abroad since 1990, many awards and an exhibition lasting several months in the Old Town Hall have carried the artist's work out into the world. – Immediately in the laudatory speech by Dr. Schurr we will learn more about the artistic side. – this alone would be a reason for an honor. But Christiane Toewe stands for “more”. Beyond her artistic work, which she has already completed, she has made great contributions to cultural life in this country: she was chairwoman of the BBK for many years (2008 - 2014), and has been deputy chairwoman of the art space JETZT! for 6 years (2013). primarily for the boiler house and has proved to be a tireless fighter for artists and contemporary art over the years. - on a voluntary basis, mind you! And that means making time and know-how available voluntarily and free of charge for a task that serves the general public, for all of us! Getting involved in the field of contemporary art always means dealing with the unknown, with the experimentally preliminary, with the provocative. You learn to improvise and work efficiently, there are no fixed working hours that mean the day ends at 4 or 5 p.m., meetings take place in the evening until late at night, e-mails are dealt with just before you fall asleep, exhibitions are also started Sundays and public holidays, often involving family members and/or friends. This self-imposed task is not always popular, and certainly not at a time when culture is increasingly being confused with entertainment, with fast, superficial, easily consumable amusement. Art can, should, indeed must, entertain. The problem lies more in what we consider to be entertainment today, when it wants to be nothing but irrelevant stuffing of empty spaces - is a pastime - and no longer results from gaining knowledge and interaction, from communication, games and yes also from work and effort getting involved here costs nerves and sometimes borders on self-exploitation and maybe you actually have to be a little bit of a masochist.... Or being very convinced of the matter! One of Christiane's special merits was and is the networking, the personal conversations with artists, with the citizens of this city as well as with representatives of public life. She was always good at threading new things. Crusty structures were questioned and new ones initiated. So it is her z. B. succeeded in bringing the 3 Franconian BBKs into closer contact with their idea of the TRIO exhibitions. And that is still fruitful today. And finally, Christiane Toewe was one of the first to recognize the potential of the boiler house, and in the spring of 2011 she lent a hand herself, clearing away the rubble and helping to make the room playable. She also quickly found and won the sponsor who took on a new large door to the Sandstrasse as an escape door. Christiane Toewe is therefore an important institution when it comes to art and who, if not her, deserves this Berganza award. Christiane – I am delighted that YOU are the focus of active patronage today!

translucent

by Richard Wientzek 2019Light, lightness and movement characterize the work of Christiane Toewe. Porcelain is her preferred working material. In addition to designing individual objects, Christiane Toewe always thinks and works in larger dimensions and contexts. In space-related work installations, the material porcelain - extended by the media light and sound - becomes the carrier of social and ethical questions. But let's start with the light. In 1990, Christiane Toewe created a series of towering objects. It was her final thesis at the technical school for ceramics in Höhr-Grenzhausen in the field of design. She developed this series, called "ZIPs", following a trip to China, where she came into contact with eggshell porcelain. In the truest sense of the word. The lightness, the translucency, then this high, long-lasting sound of the Chinese porcelain bowls fascinated her immediately. A year of development work was necessary before she was able to develop her first translucent forms with this sculptural finesse. Since then she has not let go of the topic of translucency. Illuminants in the forms emphasize and reinforce the rising and falling gradients of opacity - i.e. opacity - and transparency. The light wanders. All objects appear light. In the shape, in the thinness of the walls and in the manifold nuances of white, all heaviness seems to have been lifted. Christiane Toewe works with pure porcelain, mostly without glaze. She treats the object surfaces with the rich design possibilities of lithophane, scaffito and perforation. The artificial light radiating from within makes the astonishing fragility of the material apparent. Not only the laws of statics, but also the properties attributed to porcelain, such as coldness and hardness, seem to have been suspended in Christiane Toewe's objects illuminated from within. The virtuosic exploration of the limits of stability and fragility is revealed in the light. The luminous objects become one with their light and disappear into it. They transcend their own materiality. Movement is form. form is movement. Nothing bores Christiane Toewe more than static things. All of the works are dynamically aligned, meaning they lean slightly away from or towards the viewer. They seem fleeting, almost floating. In the large room installations, Toewe reinforces the effect with moving, modeled light. This is based on sophisticated, programmed microtechnology that remains invisible to the visitor. Light sensors react to the movements of the viewer in space. He becomes part and co-designer of the spatial situation. Despite all the concentrated examination of the controllability of the material porcelain, despite all the preoccupation with formal and material-related questions, the artist does not live in the ivory tower of her own aesthetics. Social and existential issues drive her, and that has a strong impact on the content of her works. She consistently works on new variants and possibilities to make porcelain and light the carrier of socio-political issues, sometimes expanded to include the media of photography, graphics and video. The white gold, formerly an object of representation and self-assurance for wealthy circles, is changing from a status symbol to its exact opposite: an instrument to question outdated thought patterns or the status quo. Christiane Toewe has been living and working in Bamberg/Franconia for 25 years. This anniversary was the occasion to honor her work in the old town hall there with a solo exhibition in a museum. It is probably not only the most striking and certainly the most photographed building in the UNESCO World Heritage city, it is also home to a top-class presentation, especially with the Ludwig Collection, a chamber of curiosities that shows the beginnings and heyday of historical porcelain art. Until November 3rd of this year there is now the opportunity to see the permanent exhibition with the finest Meissen porcelain and faience in dialogue with the contemporary spatial art of Christiane Toewe. In the exciting juxtaposition, eight works or Installation groups from 1998 to the present day provide a stimulating insight into the artist's thinking and work.

Christiane Toewe's porcelain objects

by Sebastian Quenzer, Stadtecho Bamberg, July 2018Everything floats. Among the artistic materials, porcelain is the diva. Fragile at every step of the way and on the way to the kiln, then more stable but still in danger, because a single extra minute in the flames can be too much and melt the object beyond salvage. Nevertheless, Christiane Toewe dedicated herself to the production of her luminous objects and installations of this delicate material. The almost airy lightness that you can coax out of the porcelain has done it to her. A lightness that leaves the limits of materiality behind. Christiane Toewe can report on a triggering moment that should not be missing in any artist biography. A moment in which the still fallow creative spirit finds its purpose. And his means of expression. The time when she fell in love with the porcelain. She was already fascinated by clay as a material while doing a part-time job in a ceramics workshop, which she did at the age of 16. "I couldn't get away from there. The great feeling of having your fingers in the mud of the clay has lasted to this day,” she says, and her hands describe movements as if they were squeezing a lump of clay. But it was only in 1990, after completing an apprenticeship in ceramics, during a study trip to China, the birthplace of porcelain, that enlightenment hit her. “It was in China that I first came into contact with eggshell porcelain, a particularly thin-walled variant. Literally. I held a bowl made from it in my hands and my heart started racing. It was so light, transparent or translucent, i.e. translucent, and yet firm.” He says and lets his hands circle again.On the plane back from China, the decision was made to produce just the same porcelain. But not to form profane bowls or coffee mugs out of it, but to use it for the higher purpose of art. The idea of today's luminous objects was born. "I set out to get the same thinness and increase its light transmission even further by placing a light source inside." Easier said than done. Although the Chinese had shown her the thin porcelain, they did not reveal the recipe according to which it was made. “I spent a year experimenting and initially only produced curds. It was only shortly before the final exam at the technical school for ceramic design, which I was attending at the time, that I produced crack-free, extremely thin porcelain and my first luminous objects for the first time.” She had developed her own porcelain recipe for this, but “that’s secret…” white Gold china clay, also known as white gold, is available as a powdered raw material. The basic ingredients are the minerals quartz and feldspar, i.e. kaolin. Depending on the recipe, this or that ingredient is added, then water is added and a soft, malleable mass is created. It feels almost like cream. In short, if this mass is fired at temperatures of around 1340°C, porcelain ceramics is created. In contrast to other fired ceramic products, however, porcelain with thin walls is translucent. In order to give the porcelain its brilliant white, Christiane Toewe regulates the oxygen supply in her kiln, which weighs several tons, so that there is a lack of oxygen in the combustion chamber. "This is existential for white porcelain, because if the fire lacks oxygen, it takes the oxygen trapped in the porcelain. This process is called reduction, it makes the porcelain white.” Although white is not always white. Numerous gradations are known. And you never know exactly which ones the material will end up taking. In other words, unique pieces are created. A firing process can take up to 24 hours. A time that Christiane Toewe does not have to spend completely near the stove, but at the decisive moment she has to be present with full concentration and follow the burning through a small porthole. "When the time comes, nobody can disturb me, not even my family. The trick is to burn to just short of the melting point at 1,340 degrees and not to exceed it. Because otherwise everything would melt within minutes.” As I said, it took years for her to develop the feeling for this moment. In the meantime, however, she has mastered it to such an extent that hardly anything breaks in the oven anymore. Once the sculptures have been fired for us, they are surprisingly stable despite their fragile appearance. Light as a material Christiane Toewe is aware that with her material she is on the edge of the shallows for the production of handicrafts. Mixing the recipe together, pouring and firing are crafts and she also makes smaller collections of lanterns, teacups and vases. However, your luminous objects have nothing to do with the usual uses of porcelain products. They are not commodities or any junk that only serves decorative purposes. Christiane Toewe's sculptures break up these dimensions. She has specialized in two groups: luminous objects and room installations. "But my sculptural light objects are not used for lighting." They change the atmosphere in the room, that's their purpose. Great the artistic effort that is also in them. No sculpture is like the other. Before firing, Christiane Toewe gives each figure its value through perforations, scraffito, ornaments, high and low reliefs, tiny porcelain balls on the millimeter-thin surface and the lithophane, which are washed out of the dry surface by the use of water. With lightness and light seems to float in the artist's studio, which also serves as an exhibition space. Luminous figures in a radiantly bright room. The potential of the sculptures is shown most effectively in reduced lighting. The glow of the luminous objects comes into its own in a darkened room and gives them an ethereal dimension. The light source, which shines from within, seems to finally cancel out the contours of the material, which is almost contourless and intangible due to its thinness. The luminous objects become one with their own light, disappear in it and overcome the limits of materiality. The play of shadows and light reflections thrown by the objects on the wall, the interplay between the work and the space, intensifies this impression once again. The forms, which become thinner and slimmer towards the top, reinforce the impression of lightness, which in this context can also mean detachment or liberation. The phallic dimension of striving upwards cannot be dismissed out of hand either. In the sense of cliché crockery, which otherwise represents the opposite of the vessel, there is a further break. Also not to be dismissed out of hand is the fact that many of the light objects are similar in this, their shape. It seems as if they themselves are striving for something (still) intangible, a next level of form. Christiane Toewe already has an idea of what this could look like. However, the material limits the search for forms a little. “I would like to produce more open forms, more amorphous ones, but the porcelain doesn't allow that. It would sink in when it burned.” The limits of what is possible are inherent in the material. But if the material also includes light, which has and cannot have any form, this limitation dissolves in itself. In any case, Toewe's works elude attempts at theoretical explanation, but their inaccessible intangibility makes the difference. Emotional associations are in the foreground. These associations that accompany the glowing flattery of the light: calm, security, etc. The intangible does not have to be fixed by trying to explain. It is able to subconsciously address the viewer. "It was clear to me from the start that I didn't want to produce anything negative, gloomy, abysmal in art. My fascination for the lightness, the filigree, the optimistic should be transferred to the people. I could never work with metal either. It's too cold for me and you need too much strength.” An artistic attitude that would certainly not be appreciated by Rui Chafes and his steel shadow sculptures. But only marginally. The political sideChristiane Toewe found another form of artistic expression in room installations. Large-scale, room-filling works consisting of many porcelain parts. One of them is called "whispering bottles". Here another intangible component is added: sounds. Several 100 bottle-shaped porcelain objects are distributed throughout the room. More than half have microphones that perceive external noises (voices, footsteps, the outside world) and react to them. A light goes on in them - sometimes it's just a short flash, sometimes it's a longer glow. In any case, they seem to be whispering and whispering to each other and to visitors. Cheers to communication between individuals. However, not all glow. Some remain silent and refuse to be exchanged. This work won Christiane Toewe the audience award at the Biennale "Location" in Schwabach in 2017 by a wide margin. "Room installations are my subject and I'm relatively proud to have made my first installation with moving light back in 1998." This work was called "Blinking Breasts". Enormous porcelain breasts, arranged in pairs, jutted out into the room, glowing red. They were mistaken with the banner “Don't touch me. Not yet". “But people still touched them. But not without flinching, because the breasts were hot.” This shows the political and socially critical side of Christiane Toewe's work. In the face of the #MeToo debate, the “Blinkende breasts” are more topical than ever. Back to China, Christiane Toewe has been active for almost 30 years now. She has been exhibiting since 1991, in over 60 exhibitions to date, which have brought her nine prizes, most recently the Culture Prize of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region. High time for a work show. "From February to November 2019, the museums of the city of Bamberg presented the exhibition translucent" in the old town hall. The entire basement of the Ludwig Collection. I will be able to exhibit almost all room installations there. I think my concept of making room installations out of porcelain and modeled light is unique.” Anyone who would like to experience the “Whispering Bottles” in action separately has the opportunity to do so earlier in Meissen. There, in the city of Europe's first porcelain manufactory, a biennial for contemporary porcelain art will take place from August 12th. Tableware and serial products are explicitly excluded. Christiane Toewe does not have much time to stay there. Life in the world of china can be hectic as on August 17th it's off to China once again. “There I will be 'Artist in Residence' for three months, in the 'International Studio Jingdezhen', in the porcelain capital of China. The Chinese are not so interested in how I work as why I do something. Especially for the room installations with moving light, for the combination of this 5,000-year-old material with LED light.” And what worked once can happen again. Perhaps enlightenment will strike again in and thanks to China and Christiane Toewe will succeed in breaking through the limits of the material again - towards the amorphous.

„whispering bottles“

Art grant Bamberg 2015, statement of the jury "The interdisciplinary concept of the "whispering bottles" by the Bamberg artist Christiane Toewe unanimously convinced the jury of the art grant Bamberg. Statement of the jury: “The “whispering bottles” add a dynamic light component to the previous work of the ceramist and impress to a large extent with their innovative strength and aesthetic effect. The illuminated ceramic bottles, which the artist has produced repeatedly and in many variants in the course of her work, in addition to numerous light goblets, are to be made to communicate with each other via an acoustic component. The "whispering bottles" react to frequency ranges and volume ratios, to noises and language in the exhibition space. Controlled by these impulses, they take on their own character through different behavior, which is expressed through different light intensities per bottle, and begin to “whisper” with each other. Appearance and extent of communication and thus the resulting atmosphere can be varied through targeted light control and the flexible dimensions of the work (depending on the size of the room, a different number of objects is conceivable). The work as a result can be seen very clearly by the jury and rated accordingly well and is unanimously classified as very promising and artistically impressive. Equally convincing is the intended creative process, which presents the artist with new challenges.”

The translucent porcelain worlds by Christiane Toewe,

dr Barbara Kahle, 1st Chairwoman of the Kunstverein Bamberg, Bamberg, April 2015A spacious studio on the edge of the Bamberg city forest, porcelain dust, many shelves with bowls and objects in all stages of the manufacturing process, a kiln weighing several tons with 6 atmospheric burners - this is the place where the enchanting, fragile works of the artist Christiane Toewe are created. Their only material is the white unglazed porcelain. In 1990, as part of her ceramic design studies, she visited the Chinese provincial capital of Guangzhou and discovered “her” material up close: wafer-thin, translucent and pure – an enthusiasm that continues to this day and constantly challenges her anew. A year of intensive examination and development work with material, technology, form and firing process followed, then the first series of ZIPs was finished, those long pointed porcelain cones with a millimeter-thin transparent wall, which have been produced in many variations since then. Initially decorated with fine, sparse painting, the porcelain itself was further processed experimentally over the years. It is perforated, pierced or almost pierced, in relief, until only wafer-thin sections remain. The limits of what is feasible are explored, but must also be endured, because rejections and failure are part of it. She needs daring as well as sensitivity and patience for this very special work. After firing, the light shines through, it is captured in the vessels, as it were, playing through the wall. The luminous effect can be intensified by an electric light source inside, thus increasing the fascinating effects in the room. These sculptural lamps become poetic structures with enchanting shadows on the walls. The spectrum has also widened formally, there are ZIPs with 2 or 3 tips, squat low counterparts, those that playfully form breasts with nipples. Countless bowls, mugs, bottle-like formations, also groups that present themselves as light installations - all small and large works of art that go beyond the usual idea of earthenware or the porcelain knick-knacks of handicrafts. Despite the limitation to pure white, there are countless nuances that result from firing in an open fire and thus underline the delicacy and sensual radiance of this white gold. Her favorite themes, in addition to light and translucency, lightness, beauty, movement, calm and restlessness, can be found in relation to society in her room installations, videos, photographs and graphics - if it suits, with a spark of humor.

ART 5 | III, August 2014

Excerpts from "Art and Ceramics and Woman" by Jürgen Grässer

The porcelain that Toewe mainly works with is a mass whose composition she developed herself. This process took a year, during which she experimented with different raw materials in different ratios. It was about finding a material that Toewe could use to make large, thin objects without damaging them during firing, such as cracks or blisters. The main ingredient of the mass, which looks a little like thick cream (and also feels like a spontaneous finger test reveals: very soft and incredibly gentle), is kaolin, which Toewe sources from England.

Then there is the handling of the surface, which should be made as thin as possible. Some objects are only a millimeter thick, so Toewe can't wash away much. Many of the works that are currently being carried out are perforated using special drills that are familiar from dentists. Toewe has to work with concentration and great care. When hole follows hole, the anxious question arises as to whether the work of art will withstand the fire. "It really is a technical tightrope walk," says the porcelain artist. The temperature in the kiln is at least 1340° Celsius. Every fire is documented, Toewe keeps minutes hour after hour. She has to be careful not to burn it for too long, because porcelain can also melt.

The woman, who speaks cautiously and rather quietly than loudly, was looking for something that has a unique selling point and with which she can express her personality. There is the own recipe for the material, but there is also the enormous difficulty of the technology. Toewe says it would take two or three years to master them. But she "simply has a lot of patience." And she certainly needs it. With her porcelain works, she also makes many spatial installations ("More Value", for example, "Intermezzo"), in which she tries to implement artistic themes through her filigree objects: "That's actually the more exciting thing for me."

For more than two decades, Toewe has devoted herself to her extraordinary art. She's far from tired. Again and again she creates new things, develops herself and her works further. Her eyes light up when she talks about it. So does your work. Toewe installs the electronics in a wooden base, which a carpenter makes for you, and then fixes the objects on the base. Then the wafer-thin porcelain can shine from within. It goes without saying that the hour of Toewe's bright, light, delicate objects comes especially in the evening and at night.

In addition to her own creative work, Toewe is also involved in the Professional Association of Visual Artists in Upper Franconia, of which she is the chairperson. As such, she campaigns for the art space Kesselhaus, for example. And she hopes that (the city of) Bamberg also appreciates the artists on their own land, instead of relying on big names from outside, as is often the case. The cathedral city is not lacking in creative potential, especially in the field of fine arts. Toewe and her porcelain light objects are a part of this that should not be underestimated.

Simultaneously – signs of the times in Bamberg: light I body I space

Excerpt from the introductory speech by Dietlinde Schunk-Assenmacher on October 5th, 2014

Christiane Toewe and Monika Supé in the Toewe studio & art space, 05.10.-24.10.2014

“light I body I space is the title of this exhibition, which in these three words already encompasses what makes up the works of Christiane Toewe and Monika Supé and at the same time this title light I body I space also addresses the essential parameters that are important for both artists are important, for whom they work with passion and a love of experimentation. (..)osh

Henrik Ibsen once wrote: What makes a work of art the intellectual property of its author is the stamp of his own personality which he puts on the work. And Monika Supé achieves this impressively with her work. These are unusual objects that can be seen in Bamberg for the first time and I would like to say that they are unique. We can say the same of Christiane Toewe's translucent porcelain objects. She is a trained ceramist, designer and above all an artist. (..) w

Today, Christiane Toewe can use her many years of experience with her preferred material, porcelain, for her LIGHT objects, playing with all the nuances of white, its sensuality, lightness and vulnerability. And she achieved her goal of developing wafer-thin porcelain bodies that have a special life of their own and are awakened to perfect beauty by light. (..)

In her latest works, the artist uses a fine drill to bore text into the wafer-thin porcelain mass. She works with extreme concentration and great care. They are texts that she writes herself, which show her commitment but also her wit in the areas of ecology, politics and human rights. They are encoded by her using mirror writing, but they become visible through the light. I have to think of the French word for enlightenment: les Lumières, and the light is called la lumière. What profound meaning! Enlightenment through light! (..)de

I would like to close with a quote from Arnulf Rainer, the well-known Austrian painter: You can only understand a work of art when you own it. He's not that wrong. The longer we deal with the work of art, the more we learn about it.

AT THE OPENING OF CHRISTIANE TOEWE'S new ATELIER on 09/14/2013

Excerpts from the speech by Richard Wientzek, painter

... It often goes further in the individual artistic development when the artist limits himself to a single question. On the one hand, this question must be very clear in order to be able to work in a targeted manner. And at the same time it has to be so open that it leaves room for freedom and possibilities. Christiane Toewe's question is - as succinct as it is complex: How does porcelain react to light?

Let's imagine a porcelain object as architecture, such as a Gothic cathedral. The medieval master builders were increasingly driven by the question: how much wall mass can I remove in order to achieve as much window area as possible, i.e. transparency. And how far can the game be pushed without everything falling apart?

On a purely "sporting" or technical level, the gothic master builders and Christiane Toewe are constantly weighing up statics versus lightness.

“Sport” becomes art when the personal handwriting is convincingly recognizable. Sensuality, lightness, the interplay of rigidity and movement, light and dark, cold and warmth, the permanent risk of failure and often a gentle sense of humour, these are just a few components of Toewe's signature style.

lightness of things and beauty of being

Exhibition "translucent" at the Regierung von Oberfranken, 14.9.2011 - 6.01.2012

Building on tradition, Christiane Toewe is working on the secret of porcelain. The artist has been studying the translucent properties of porcelain for more than 23 years. She plays with wall thicknesses, conquers the material, moves it between transparency and opacity.

Her theme is the lightness of things and their vulnerability, but also the beauty of being.

She prefers to work with pure porcelain, ie porcelain without paint application. Fire in an open fire results in countless nuances of the color white.

The production of the objects is very difficult. The artist calculates the risk of breakage during firing because it is clear to her that the result of the working process would not be as translucent and delicate without having pushed the limits of the material properties. The resulting play with the translucency of porcelain is Christiane Toewe's great passion.

Excerpts from the opening speech by Petra Platzgummer-Martin, Vice President

Elegance at 1340°C

Exhibition «Light Image»: Kunstraum Rosenstraße 12, Fürth until February 27, 2010.

"The strong emotional effect of light is Christiane Toewe's thing. The ceramist literally "paints" with light: When her luminous objects made of wafer-thin porcelain fired at 1340 degrees shine, it becomes warm in the room. All works are handmade and have an effect despite their formal severity moving in itself. This is due to the numerous nuances of white on the surface. With their layers and reliefs, the shapes of cones, bottles, vases, cups and cocoons come to life. Illuminated from within, the lithophane begins to close Due to the different translucency of the hand-formed material and the resulting shadow effects, it no longer appears flat, but as a small work of art with an enchanting depth effect."

Excerpts from the newspaper article by Claudia Schuller, Füther Zeitung 20.01.2010

light and shadow

Excerpts from the opening speech by Ch. Liedtke, Galerie Kunstraum Kehl 1999

“ZIP's, BIP's and MIZZI's conquer their space as soon as the light goes on. The previously calm, reserved sculptural forms come to life. The light makes its way.

In her room installations "BLINKENDE BRIESTE", "MENS ROOM" OR "HANGEBUSEN" Christiane Toewe goes one step further and makes the visitor part of the whole. "DON'T TOUCH ME , NOT YET".

"Seltsani" 1998

Excerpts from Christine Gruber's speech on the occasion of Seltsani 1998, Arzberg

Christiane Toewe sets the elements in motion and uses them to create the lightness of things.

“The guiding principle of her artistic work is the mobility and lightness of her objects. Pointing the way were experiences in China and England, which confirmed their fun in experimenting and their courage to lose. She is a master of the material and uses it to form things that go beyond the usual view of ceramics. Christiane Toewe's translucent light objects are made of porcelain, and that is transparent when it is wafer-thin and fired so high that it almost melts. It is cooled down abruptly so that the vitrified state is preserved. Christiane Toewe makes this fragility visible with filigree reliefs and openings. Manufacture is unpredictable, yielding plenty of breakage, and the excellent pieces which, like art, are rare.

The limits of what is feasible are the free space in which Christiane Toewe prefers to work.”

About the work...

Interviews and artist talks in the exhibitions, vernissages and open studio days are opportunities to describe the content of the works and work processes and to answer questions. This is part of the job.