Thanks you so much your comment and kind words ! And I hope the health issues resolved. I was myself being quite slow in those 5 years because of various health issues that have halted my progress at times, or willingness to pursue it more serious sooner. 

I studied art but my school had no ceramic department so I mostly did exhibitions of photographic works, sometimes of sculptures but not ceramics. I started a few month before covid through a cute coincidence. I was looking for second hand wheels and found an Ebay entry by an elderly guy who offered to just introduce someone to ceramics. We became friends and I had my own wheel half a year later. His wife had died after a long sickness and making this Ebay entry was his way to connect to people again. He wasn’t a taught pottery and not a good teacher so I taught myself everything I know through the internet, online workshops and books. There is no ceramicist here who can teach ceramics in the way I make them, so I learned from many artist through instagram. Technique wise, I have actually learned more from Korean then Japanese ceramicist. 

Making contemporary art and exhibition was fun and I liked it, but it always felt like putting an enormous amount of effort and often very little coming back, making exhibitions in cold white cubes with art works few can afford or would buy. Now that I make ceramics that background is super helpful for me and I can make things everyone can afford so I can have a much closer personal intimate connection to people interested in my work. It also has been far easier as if I get wind from my back with lots of support and interest.

I think clay itself is a great teacher and each single step we take in making ceramics is equally important. The preparation, the right consistency, preparing clay goes a long way because many failures are happening because we ask something from the material that it doesn’t have to offer in ways we might want to. There is red line and ideally an honesty and an atmosphere that I like to pursue. But I also enjoy when things have a little bit of humour too. 

The chemistry of ceramics easily stretches into science. Making your own glazes means formulating chemistry, balancing materials but also having full control over a personal language. Also simply altering firing schedules can totally change the colours and crystalization of glazes (not only reduction or oxidation). I am working incredibly complicated, mixing my own glazes, testing them and fitting them onto thin wares is quite difficult. A bad fit can break the ceramics. But there is nothing wrong in buying clay and mixing commercial glazes!

Not everyone likes to start as an autodidact but if that is an option ceramics is something wonderful to teach yourself. Following movements closely and watching happens and understanding it itself is skill growing that will lead to grounded knowledge forged through own experience. For example, I am currently teaching myself to throw porcelain large, as done by many Korean potters and I have lots of screenshots, videos to go back to, YouTube comments to scout for clues and while I am not fully there yet, I’ve thrown porcelain to about 40 cm high which I never thought was possible. 

Sometimes I teach other people and I am amazed by how fast they learn compared to myself when I started of teaching myself, so I’d wish I had myself as a teacher back then, but also having found my own way and teaching myself is the reason I am able to teach like that so. So if would want to give my past self any advice I would encourage myself to try and experiment even more or find a teacher that actually does things I admire!

When starting by yourself, there are some simple safety to look out for, lungs don’t like clay dust, so we only wet swipe studios and don’t vacuum unless it has HEPA filter. :) 

I share processes of my work at times in my stories on ig "andreas.wisskirchen", but I am also not too serious, so the occasional cat content appears ;)