Feature photo: collage by Christine Eckert
Probably the most famous ceramic artist in Heilbronn Maria Fitzen-resident settler may have been, which is still very well known, at least to the somewhat older people of Heilbronn. The people of Heilbronn still encounter them not only in school buildings, here I still remember the mosaic in the Mönchsee-Gymnasium, which I saw for the first time when I started school as a student at the Robert-Mayer-Gymnasium and which she designed in 1954 as a stone mosaic for the wall fountain in the entrance hall of the Elly-Heuss-Knapp-Gymnasium in Heilbronn. All people from Heilbronn can also use the fountain bowl of the seven-tube fountain marvel at what she created in 1960. Since she was very much appreciated by some of my family members, I also saw vases and pictures of her very early on, which can still be discovered in the most diverse rooms within our family and always awaken childhood memories.
Ms. is probably less well known Drost his, which still had its own studio in Heilbronn in the 1970s and later, by the way Fitzen settlers also, settled in Italy. Whether I'm with her, at a children's camp on the Gaffenberg or even in the rabbit mill I don't remember when I made my first own attempts at pottery.
When I met my better half today, I came into contact with pottery again and met the artist who is still active in and around Heilbronn Christina Eckert know. I was then able to put my pottery skills to the test and, at least from today's perspective, I am very happy that posterity will be spared having to look at the works I created at that time.
In contrast to Fitzen settlers and Drost is Christina Eckert However, she is more fixated on Spain than on Italy and has also included raku ceramics, which originally comes from Japan, in her repertoire. Since raku is usually fired outdoors because of the heavy smoke that develops, such occasions are a good opportunity to learn more about this technique and also about the artist Christina Eckert to get into the conversation yourself.
Christina Eckert comes from Stuttgart-Stammheim and came into contact with pottery for the first time in 1977. She has been giving pottery courses herself since 1981, she had her own exhibition in Heilbronn as early as 1985 and over the years not only expanded her artistic field of activity to include raku, but also devoted herself very successfully to painting. My favorite picture of her can be seen just above as a featured image.
Even if Christina Eckert can be seen again and again in exhibitions, and her works can also be admired in some shop windows in and around Heilbronn, I recommend contacting her directly and paying her a visit in her studio in Nordheim.
Incidentally, their best work is there, and I myself rarely manage to leave without buying another new one. In any case, you get a good impression of how pottery works and how rich and varied ceramics actually are.
A tip from me, don't bring up the topic of glazes unless you've brought a lot of time with you.
If you are now a little curious about Heilbronn's current ceramic artist, then I recommend you take a look at Christina Eckerts website Eckert Art. After that, at the latest, you will make an on-site appointment with the artist.
"'Always learn poems by heart,' she said. 'They have to become the marrow in your bones. Like fluoride in the water, they'll make your soul impervious to the world's soft decay.'
Janet Fitch, White Oleander (2002: 8)
I imagined my soul taking in these words like silicated water in the Petrified Forest, turning my wood to patterned agate. I liked it when my mother shaped me this way. I thought clay must feel happy in the good potter's hand."
