When hands meet clay

“I love clay.
Somehow, I have always known that I would end up doing something with my hands. And then, timely, I fell in love with clay.”

She laughs. But you can tell that she, in fact, means every single word. To her clay is more than meets the eye or the hand.

She is a ceramist and runs a workshop by her own name Sara Scheel. As a multidisciplinary ceramist Sara Scheel links her production of popular ceramic pottery with the more artistic work from her hand. She balances the ceramic work field with explorative sculptures and crafted collections of objects for everyday use. “My work life consists of being creative with my hands. To Create. To generate, on a daily basis, the process of something non-existing emerging from an abstract idea, to the level of existing from the labour of my hands. I need to sculpture with my hands. What can I say – I love clay.”

The Meeting.
To Sara Scheel the meeting as an abstract idea is what drives her inspiration for the beloved basic material. The meeting in shapes and the contrast that this meeting creates, is a constant source of productive wonder. “The thing that really captures me about the clay is that I am so close to the end-user with my ceramic objects. It is a very intimate way of communicating when you craft objects for daily use. The cup that I have designed in clay, burned and glazed – Is a functional object for everyday use in a person’s life. That is a fantastic thought. It makes me humble and on the other hand it makes me proud and wanting to strive to become even better at communicating this tactile intimacy through my ceramic objects. To me, it is an honour to be able to create objects that people use every single day. I am also preoccupied with the idea to create comfort and security in my objects by creating the same collection of objects over a longer period of time. People tend to like the well-known, the expected object.”

The Process.
“Process. I am obsessive with the process of clay and strive to find new ways of handling the material. I am captivated by working in process of developing new. The phase of wild, chaotic creativity and randomness before everything fall into place is my favourite creative space. I might add that I am definitely not a person that finishes. I am more of a start-up kind a person. I like the iteration of new emerging failures and unforeseen the next steps, which again leads to something completely new and unexpected. I could stay in this process forever. But I know as a self-employed craftswoman I need to finish up objects and have them for sale in my workshop. It is, in fact, my business model – To create objects and then sell them when they are finished. I have a pragmatic approach to running a creative business. When I fail heavily, I always get up again. Luckily, I am quite skilled at getting back on my feet. I think that it is not spot-on typically for a creative, artistic person. For instance, if I would open the kiln and discover that every little pottery object has failed miserably – I tend to think, yes, now I can start a completely new process. I know that it is naïve, but it keeps me bold and on track as a creative business owner. The act of taking chances or even bigger risks is part of my profession.”

The fascination.
“Sensuality. Proximity. Besides the touch from human to human, what kind of proximity do you have in life as a human being? With which materials or objects are you close? Your clothes, a fork, your duvet – A mug? A mug is not just a naked object with a function to contain liquids. A mug holds the ability to communicate a sense from the material, the surface, the choices made in processing – And everything in between. A mug can be a sensual, tactile experience – or just a container for coffee. “

“When I worked with sculptural subjects before I always felt this distance between the artist and the spectator. So, I decided some years ago to work with objects for use – It was a totally transgressive concept for me to step into – And I had to redefine my own perception of me as a ceramic artist slash crafting person. It was suddenly vulnerable and daring to make this decision of making objects for use instead of working with sculptures. The audience is completely different. The vulnerable aspect of putting yourself into this area of making objects that people actually use, is that suddenly so many parameters have to be met in process of production. The subject goes from art to craftmanship and with this transformation new questions emerges; of durability, function, likability. It is a meeting. And I love meetings. The meeting between people and processed clay. But it is also daring to choose working with everyday objects for use. It will display your mistakes and imperfections in other ways than if you could say the clay was not at all supposed to hold a function. You have the end user very close to the object. It appeals to me. To be measured on my skills within craftmanship to create objects for use as a ceramist.”

The Nature.
“When I need to relax and empty my head, I seek out into the woods to gather mushrooms. Or, I go to the beach to collect pebbles and shells. Not to bring the small stones home with me as an inspiration or memory token. In fact, I would rather not. I feel relieved that I don’t have to think about the output from the time spend in the nature. It is my sanctuary where there I cannot exist in the moment with no expectations. It is a challenge for sure. To be. With no output. When I actively chose to not be at work, I also chose not to have my mind on inspirational mode. Deliberately I do not see new ideas materialises from a walk in the forest. Otherwise you could be at work all the time.”

“I love clay.
Somehow, I have always known that I would end up doing something with my hands. And then, timely, I fell in love with clay.”

The Contrast.
Sara Scheel does not consider herself as a ceramist influenced by the natural design from natures hand. She does not hold the notion of nature as a romantic source of inspiration. “I seek inspiration in the instant meeting of unexpected shapes. The intriging contrast in a meeting of shapes when natural meets synthetic. Or when beauty meets quirk. I get excited when I see a pink blob of chewing gum on the gravel path. The compilation of these contrasts makes my mind wander towards new ideas. The clash meeting of shapes is found in many places. Whether it is in the forrest or in the city. Like an odd piece of plastic lying randomly on a green lawn.”

“Once, I travelled to Iceland to experience these magnificient natural surroundings. It was beyond beautiful. But I was almost frightened by the greatness of the landscape and made it somewhat difficult for me to relate to. Finally, when I arrived at Kastrup Airport, at the parking space, I saw some odd-looking plastic garbage lying around in some straws by the roadside. That specific meeting of two objects captured in shape and contrast, I could relate to and the sight gave me new ideas instantly. As a creative professional I seem to find my inspiration in those graphic, contrasting meetings which can seem insignificant to others.