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Pora-lnin. 2003. Left: 20 x 15 an. Ri^ht: 18 .v 15 cm.

Henk Wolvers'

Powerful Delicacy of PorcelainArticle by leneke Suidman-Leeuwendal

HENK WOLVER? {19.M) WORKS WITH i'ORCELAIN,accurately and precisely. He is led by theproperties of his material, ono of which is a

size limitation hecause of the translucent effect heaims for. If he used a mould, he could achieve thesame 'thinness' at a larger scale, but that would com-promise the elegance of the form on which he is sokeen. But the other reason is that he finds great satis-faction in working without tools. A potter's wheel healso rejects. He rolls and cuts rather than moulds.From slices of extremely thin clay of three or more lay-ers he shapes objects with irregular edges, in strips

50 Ceramics: Art and Perception No. 60 2005

that move with the form. With a reservation towardsdivulging details, Wolvers puts an individual stampon his work. Often the colours are located on theinside of an object, as is the translucent glazing. Thelatter in particular produces mysterious effects.

Since his studies at the Art Academy, Wolvers haskept a systematic record of all the technical data of thefiring processes in the kilns with which he hasworked. This unfinished book full of experiences healways keeps close at hand. He does not shy awayfrom experiment; indeed he positively seeks it, but itcan only once be called an experiment. New steps

^**'^

Porcelain. 2003. Left: 14 x 16 x 10 cm. Ri^^lit: 17 x U x 10 cm.

may be locked up in the four or five trial shards thatusually go into the kiln at the same time as a work.

A shifting but recognisable pattern of lines andspots is locked in the form of his ceramic work. Never-theless, now and then, one finds a note of colourfulglazing, such as a cobalt blue or black stripe, usuallyon the edge somewhere on the inside of a vase shape.Part of the object may have been left bare, while a bandabove it is glazed. The contrast between gloss andmatt is constantly being exploited. The interplay ofcrossing black lines moves without interruption fromthe unglazed surface to the glazed surface. This aspectof the work shows correspondences with graphic art.

Wolvers is not afraid to show how he builds hiscontainers from strips of clay. Horizontal joins of thevarious strips are visible in the places where-placedcircularly - they have been joined vertically. Thematerial does not have the same thickness every-where; the skin is convex in some places and concavein others. The sides of the - in their class - monumen-tal sculptures he builds up to some 50 cm; some havea diameter of 60 cm with varying depths and widths.The large round basins are lower than the narrowervase shapes, but the latter are still wide as the insidetends to be emphasised. The objects exude simplicity.

but evenness is avoided, also on the rims. Smallbeaker forms are sometimes given protrusions, whichare reminiscent of the curled edges of thick paper.

While the containers are rooted in the tradition ofcrafted utensils, the wall objects, while producedwith the same techniques, are of a different kind.They consist of parts that are multiple variants of asingle basic form. Depending on the commission,they may consist of some 20 elongated strips, 150 kid-ney-shaped slices or 300 boxes that are rhythmicallyfixed on the wall by a corresponding number of rodsapproximately 4 cm long.

In March 2004 Henk Wolvers installed an object inthe home of the Dutch ambassador in Senegal. TheDutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been a regularbuyer of his work. For that commission the object con-sisted of 270 boxes without lids: thin porcelain boxeswith relief of 5 by 6 cm and 2.5 cm deep with openends, on which the attachment point is fixed, facingthe wall. All the right-hand sides are coloured blue-black, asifcoloured in ink.

The shifting shadow effects that result from the nat-ural shifting of light are a particularly important ele-ment in the wall objects. Consequently WoK'ersadvises against lighting his work with spotlights. For

Ceramics: Art and Perception No. 60 2005 51

Porcelain. 2002. 13 .v 15 x 7 cm.

his containers, too, he prefers a naturally shifting lightover light from statically directed sources.

As he does not like to decorate, Wolvers applies thecolours-engobes and pigments-directly on the wetclay: "I don't like gla^-ing too much because it is a laterprocess. 1 prefer to apply colour to the inside of a sliceof clay even before 1 start shaping the object. The sliceis made by stacking three or four extremely thinlyrolled lengths of clay. I apply a pattern of lines andstains on to the innermost layer, which will be embed-ded between two or more layers. 1 do that loosely byhand with pigments and brush. Correction is not pos-sible. I sometimes apply relief with stamps on whatwill be the outermost layer, used either on the insideor outside of an object. For that I use plaster forms castfrom structures 1 have made myself."

From the layered slices of clay which have the soft-ness of leather, the graphic interplay of colour isalready present though as yot in\ isible, strips are cutfrom which the object is then constructed. During thefiring in the kiln, the colours first become visible: linesand stains more or less diffusely shimmer through theouter layers of porcelain. Wolvers sometimes en-hances the translucency and the vulnerability of thematerial by introducing holes in the sides of the con-tainers. Horizontal lines dominate the graphic play ofcolour and structure; often they are somewhat lop-sided, undulating with Ihe movement of the strips ofclay. Next to or instead of lines and stains there maybe dots and circles and rectangular shapes, just as inthe graphic play the emphasis may be on the vertical.And instead of using white as a basis, he also usescolour in his work by mixing the pigment through theclay in advance.

Porcelain. 2004. 21x27x 17 c m .

"I naturally moved into art because of how I wasraised," is how Wolvers describes his ambitions. Hisfather, an amateur painter, took his four sons to adifferent part of the Netherlands every holiday inorder to draw. All would be sitting on the dock of thebay in the fishing port of Scheveningen or in theheathiand of Drenthe or in the river landscape that isso typical of the Netherlands. Pencil and sketchbookwould be put to serious use. "He would join in," theson remembers. "He was helpful as well as demand-ing, but he never told you what to do."

Wolvers proved at an early age that he would beautonomous' in the field of ceramics. At the age of 15,returning from a course in pottery in the village wherehe lived, he would go directly into the shed where hemade wooden sculptures of slats that he wouldwhitewash and install in the garden.

At the time when he finished his education after anextra year at the Art Academy of's Hertogenbosch,expressionism dominated the Dutch art world. Inceramics there was an emphasis on the personal andthe emotional, and artists were influenced bvJapanese aesthetics.

Wolvers began to concentrate on simple forms in onehue: white on the outside, black on the inside. Hisworks, tight and of some 20 cm in diameter, werehalfway between being objects and containers. After anumber of years he abandoned the tight edges. Becauseof his experiments with glazing and engobes his workbecame more colourful. Gradually he moved to porce-lain. Colour took a backseat as the material becamemore important. He built objects from parts with edgesin between and on top, which would accompany theshape and which would often protrude.

52 Ceramics: Art and Perception No. 60 2005

Porcelain. 2004. 36 x 33 x 23 cm.

With a view to increasing the emphasis on theinside of his containers, he made them increasinglywide and open. Colour was pushed back even more.Around 1990 he started working with the extremelythin slices of clay to which he applied graphic ele-ments on the inside by layering and cutting. When heencountered static ceramic forms, Wolvers wonderedmore and more why some other material had not beenchosen. "Clay, pure as clay, and it should not resembleanything else" characterises his approach.

The award of the INAX Design Prize in 1994 all-owed Wolvers to contrast his views with those of col-leagues from the country of which he had alwaysbeen curious: Japan. His own work was met withadmiration for its originality and for its craftsman-ship, which struck a note with the Japanese. "To be aceramist in Japan is relatively ordinary, while thecraft in the Netherlands is somewhat off-colour. Isometimes even think that it is dying out." He foundhow in Japan a crack formed during the firing processis considered as part of the history of an object and isnot experienced as something negative. In his ownliving room he has a number of works with such acrack that don't disturb him at all. "But I do not allowthat in works for other people. If you are a master atyour craft, you must produce 100 per cent perfec-tion," Wolvers says.

He enjoyed the way in which the Japanese see andjudge ceramic work. They not only use their eyes butalso their hands "What a country, where ceramics ispart of one's education. Take, for instance, the manybowls used in meals. Every region has its specificstyle. And that pervades society; people recognisethose styles."

Porcelain. 2004. 40/d x 12 ctn/li.

Only in Japan, however, did Wolvers fully realisehow much freedom ceramists have in the Nether-lands. "If you take initiatives, there is much you candevelop because of the financial schemes to supportartists. Basic stipends allow you to work continu-ously on autonomous objects. If the results are notimmediately marketable, you are still given financialsecurity for a certain period, provided you producehigh quality work."

Wolvers' studio is located in a pleasant 1930s citydistrict. He converted an old garage of 100 sq m intoa workspace where everything is in perfect order - abright space with lightly-coloured wood slidingdoors, galvanised metal, semi-transparent glass andan intermittent blue note. There are no decorations,only the materials that he needs and his work,which is fully in harmony with the environment. Afive-minute bike ride through the old town takeshim home, where he has fitted out a presentationroom in a medieval area, just 300 m from the St Jan'sCathedral. Some passers-by have become collectorsof his work.

If visitors glean Japanese overtones in his work,Henk Wolvers appreciates that. He has this to sayabout his choice of porcelain as a material: "Porcelainis more easily controlled than other clay. It has itsown memory, so it tends to revert to its originalshape. Translucency, clarity and power hold an end-less fascination for me."

Jent'kc SLiidman-LLvxiwend.il is ii Dutch ort historj.in and frt'e-lance writt'r for arf ma^azinL's such ah Kertiiiiu'k, The article wastranslated by G<?rtjan Wallinga. Henk Wolvers has published abook on his work. His website is www.henkwolvers.com.

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