Keramikatelier
Gneithing
Why anagama?
How did I end up on fire for the anagama?
During my apprenticeship for pottery I happened to see pictures of some pots in a new ceramics aricle.
The shown objects, their structure and colours just took me breath away. From that moment on I knew what kind of ceramics I wanted to create.
This new ceramics article was about Kai Wendt.
At this stage I knew nothing about woodfired ceramics, let alone anagama ceramics, and all that goes along with it.
I met Kai Wendt on a ceramics market and asked if I could take part in a firing. That way I gained my first experience in anagama . The kiln, its noises got me hooked, there was no turning back.
For days after the firing, closing my eyes, I still heard the anagama.
My symbol
My mark is the Chinese character for the number five.
In this symbol I see the S for my first name, the G for my surname and also the number five for the month of my birth.
As I read in a book by Dörte Michaelis, in China the number five symbolises the middle, and the middle is always a good thing.
What is more, in my hometown Mettingen there is a clocktower with five battlements, one big in the center, four smaller ones at each corner. At all times only four of these can be seen, except by flying over. That is why it is called the Feifegrätler (Swabian dialect) meaning that it is only pretending the five.
Vita
1973
born in Esslingen a.N. BW Germany
1988-92
apprenticeship as a turner at Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart Germany
1993-95
civil service at a psychoanalytic clinic an the care sector in Stuttgart
1996-99
apprenticeship in pottery at Joachim Jung in Bad Doberan MV Germany
1999-00
co working with Dörtee Michaelis near Wismar MV Germany
leading a workschop,pottery for children an adults, in Kühlungsborn MV Germany
2000-04
co working with Doris Knörlein near Rendsburg SH Germany
assistant of Kay Wendt in Schleswig SH Germany
since 2004
freelance artist
own workschop in Bovenau SH
freelancer at different ceramists
since 2006
freelancer at Jan Wieben - architectural ceramics Rieseby SH
since 1999
burning an Anagama in cooperation with Kay Wendt and Gunnar Schröder
exhibitions:
- werke die vierte 2005, bei Carola Süß, Fischerhude
- Salzbrand 2006
- „Alles hat ein Ende, nur der Holzbrand nicht“, Ausstellung im
Keramikmuseum Westerwald 2007, Höhr - Grenzhausen
- Winterausstellung Handwerkskammer Koblenz
- Woodfire Congress Bröllin 2010
- Holzbrand – Keramiken von Caroline Bohlmann und Steffen Gneithing,
Museum Kellinghusen – Stadt Kellinghusen, 2011