Statement
“In Ceramics, there is something that lies beyond skill and experience: it is passion, an intensity which is evident in the work of Gabriele Koch.” Tony Birks.
I am concentrating on simple forms, trying to integrate balance and tension, stillness and movement, expansion and the containment of volume.
All pieces are hand built and some are burnished to achieve a tactile surface. In some pots I have incorporated texture to create a contrast between rough and burnished surface areas. The distinctive patterning which complements these burnished forms is achieved in a carefully organized secondary smoke firing.
My most recent work sees a shift from low fired earthenware to high fired stoneware, combining rough black clay with white porcelain, giving me the opportunity to create strong graphic designs in contrasting colours.
Chronology
| 1948 | Born in Lörrach, South Germany |
| 1967-73 | University of Heidelberg, Degree in English, History, Political Science. Study and travels in Spain |
| 1974-77 | Camden Institute, London |
| 1977-78 | Postgraduate Certificate in Education, King’s College, London |
| 1979-81 | Goldsmiths College Diploma in Art & Design, Ceramics, London |
| 1982 | Crafts Council Setting –up Grant |
| 1984 | Crafts Council London Individual Grant Biennale Internationale de Céramique d’Art Prize, Vallauris |
| 1987-98 | Visiting lecturer at Farnham School of Art |
| 1998 | Lecture tour, Israel, British Council |
| 2009 | Publication of Gabriele Koch Hand building and smoke firing by Tony Birks introduced by Sir David Attenborough |
| 2011 | Inaugural Rothschild Memorial Lecture: Gabriele Koch Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, UK |
Exhibitions
Selected recent exhibitions:
Solo exhibitions
2017 AFTER THE RAIN, David Simon Contemporary, Bath
2017 Gabriele Koch, Studio 147, London
2015 Smoke Fired Earthenware and Soft Stoneware, Studio 147, London
2014 Solo exhibition, Studio 147, London
2013 Solo exhibition, Studio 147, London
2012 Solo exhibition, Studio 147, London
2012 New Departures, Contemporary Ceramics Centre, London
2011 Gabriele Koch, New Work, Studio 147, London
2010 Gabriele Koch, Beaux Arts , Bath
2009 Gabriele Koch, Studio 147, London
2009 Gabriele Koch, Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Dorsert
2009 Focus Gabriele Koch, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2008 The Elisabeth Zuckerman Memorial Exhibition, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool
2008 Gabriele Koch, Studio 147, London
2008 Gabriele Koch, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrrogate
2008 Gabriele Koch, Beaux Arts, Bath
2007 Gabriele Koch, Gallery 147, London
2007 Gabriele Koch, Galerie Meier, Freiburg, Germany,
2007 Gabriele Koch, Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset
Group exhibitions
2017 HOME FORM HOME, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2017 STALWART, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool
2017 COLLECT 2017, Saatchi Gallery
2015 International Ceramic Biennial, Haacht, Belgium
2015 JUNE FOCUS, Bevere Gallery, Worcester
2015 Hilton Fine Art, Bath
2015 Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2015 CERAMIC ART LONDON, Royal College of Art, London
2014 TEABOWL: Form, Function, Expression, Oxford Ceramics Gallery
2014 CERAMIC ART LONDON, Royal College of Art, London
2013 20/21 BRITISH ART FAIR, Royal College of Art, London
2013 CERAMICS NOW 2013, Bevere Gallery, Worcester
2012 New Directions in Contemporary Crafts, The Gallery Mottisfont, near Romsey, Hampshire
2012 COLLECT 2, Craft Centre and Design Gallery, City Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds
2012 CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS: A PERSONAL COLLECTION, Craven Museum and Gallery, Skipton
2012 FUNDING THE FUTURE, Contemporary Ceramics Centre, 63 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3BF
2012 Junction Art Gallery, Woodstock
2011 SMOOTH & SMOKY, Vessels Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
2011 FRAGILE STORIES, Manor House Art Gallery & Museum, Ilkley
2011 PRÄSENT, Kunstforum Solothurn, Switzerland
2011 COLLECT 2011, Saatchi Gallery, King’s Road, London SW3
2011 SOFA New York, Park Avenue Armory Park Avenue at 67th Street, New York
2011 Contemporary British Studio Ceramics; The Grainer Collection, Mint Museum, Charlotte, U.S.A.
2010 SOFA New York
2010 COLLECT, Saatchi Gallery, London
2010 Yunomi, The Wilfrid Israel Museum, Kibbuz Hazorea, Israel
2010 A Living Space – Curated by Kit Kemp, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2010 Galleri Ad Hoc, Stavanger, Norway
2009 Woodbury Sudio Gallery, Exeter
2009 Wolterton Hall, Norwich
2009 Stories and Memories, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool
2009 Faszination Keramik 2009, Galerie am Bruehl, Gresgen, Germany
2009 COLLECT, Saatchi Gallery, London
2008 The Vessel, the Object, Kunstforum Solothurn, Solothurn, Switzerland
2008 Spring Exhibition, Angela Mellor Gallery, Ely, Cambridgeshire
2008 Monochrome, Lund Gallery/European Ceramics, Easingwold, North Yorkshire
2008 COLLECT, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2008 Bols de collection, Terra Viva, Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie, France
2007/08 The Pot, the Vessel & the Object, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth (touring)
2007/08 25 Years – Collect, The Craft Centre and Design Gallery, Leeds
2006 Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada
2006 COLLECT, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2006 All Female Cast, Gallery Pangolin, Chalford, Stroud, Glos.
For full list of exhibitions please click HERE.
Bibliography
ARTICLES (Selection)
Antonio Vivas, Ceramica y Ceramistas, Gabriele Koch
Revista Internacional Ceramica, No. 147, 2018
Tony Birks, Gabriele Koch – Why Change?, A review in Ceramics, Art and Perception, issue 91, March – May 2013
Tony Birks, Gabriele Koch, Ceramics, Art and Perception, March 2009
Emmanuel Cooper, exhibition review, Gabriele Koch, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool, Ceramic Review, Sept/Oct 2008
June M Owen, Gabriele Koch, Ceramic Artist. The Northern Ceramic Society Journal, Vol. 22, 2005-2006
Tony Birks, Gabriele Koch, Ceramics Monthly, December 2005
Maria Schuely, Die Bewegung der Stille, Neue Keramik, Mai/Juni 2005
BOOKS (Selection)
Kochevet Bendavid/Christine Lalumia (ed.), Home from Home, Contemporary Applied Arts, 2017
Contemporary British Crafts: The Goodison Gift to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2016
Benedict Brierley, Firing Kilns, Bloomsbury, 2014
Allgemeines Kuenstlerlexikon AKL , Bd. 81, De Gruyter, 2013
Duncan Hooson and Anthony Quinn, The Workshop Guide to Ceramics, Thames & Hudson, 2012
Annie Carlano, Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection, Yale University Press, 2010
Tony Birks, Gabriele Koch Hand building and smoke firing, Stenlake Publishing, 2009
Emmanuel Cooper (ed.), The Ceramics Book, 2008
Jane Perryman, Smoke Firing, A&C Black, 2008
Michael Hardy, Coiling, A&C Black, 2006
Michael Hardy, Handbuilding, revised edition, A&C Black, 2004
Tim Andrews, Raku, 2nd edition, A&C Black, 2004
For full bibliography please refer to Crafts Council Photostore CV
Public Collections
Museum of Art and Design, New York, U.S.A
Philadelphia Museum of Art, U.S.A,
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, USA.
Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC, USA.
Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Sainsbury Collection – University of East Anglia, Norwich
Henry Rothschild Collection, York Art Gallery, York
Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland
Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Leeds City Art Gallery and Museum, Leeds
Shipley Art Gallery, Henry Rothschild Collection, Gateshead
Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany
Museum am Burghof, Loerrach, Germany
City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Volkshochschule, Loerrach, Germany
Le Conseil General de l’Aube, France
Augustinermuseum, Freiburg, Germany
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
European Investment Bank, Luxembourg
Towneley Hall Art Gallery, Burnley
Leeds Schools Loans Service, Leeds
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool museums
Wakefield Art Gallery, Wakefield
Contemporary Art Society, London
Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (the Keatley Trust), Birmingham
Lotte Reimers – Stiftung, Deidesheim, Germany
Sammlung Rudolf Strasser Museen der Stadt Landshut, Germany
Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury
Aberdeen City Art Gallery, Aberdeen
Cleveland Studio Pottery Collection, Middlesbrough
Bradford City Art Gallery, Bradford