Hanka Wolterstorff. A Passion for Ceramics
In the February 2019 edition of Surinam Airways inflight magazine Sabaku, a portrait of Surinamese ceramist Hanka Wolterstorff. Please enjoy this interesting read!
Also available as pdf: Sabaku 58 – Hanka Wolterstorff.
If one of her ceramic creations breaks, Hanka Wolterstorff (Hoorn, the Netherlands, 1943) tries to figure out what she can still do with it. Sometimes she makes a whole new work of art from all the individual pieces. At the time of the interview with Sabaku, she has her mind on a vase. She was ready to put it in the kiln, but as soon as she did, the unthinkable happened. There were holes in places where there shouldn’t have been any. “I worked so hard to make it, that I would never just throw it away. I just have to think up a new approach.”
Hanka hesitates to call herself an artist; she laughs as she tells about gallery owner Monique NouhChaia SookdewSingh, of Readytex Art Gallery (RAG) (also on Facebook), the gallery that she is affiliated with. “Monique says: ‘No Hanka, ceramics is not your hobby; it is your passion!’” Hanka’s modesty graces her, but it is unjustified. Her work undoubtedly deserves to be labeled as art. Most noticeable about her work are the abstract forms, which are always reminiscent of something from nature. Pointed extremities, firm curvatures, waving structures. Sometimes the ceramic pieces stand on their own, sometimes they are attached to something: a base, or a piece of wood. The end result is always harmonious, a feast for the eyes. “I want to do more with round shapes now. Once in a while you have to change things up. It may be that I suddenly see something in the clay, or try something and then think: hey, that’s nice. I never start with a preconceived idea; things just come naturally. I like organic forms best, I always revert back to those.”
“Once in a while you have to change.”
Color is another typical aspect of Hanka’s ceramic pieces. But that goes through periods as well. At one point she used mainly bright, warm colors: yellow, orange, brown. A new element is the addition of black. “I love black; when I use a lot of color and I combine it with black, the black adds depth.” She works almost exclusively with Surinamese clay. Ceramicists used to get their clay at Billiton, but that is a thing of the past. Lately, some also work with old unbaked bricks from CERAM. They are first soaked, kneaded and then put through a strainer and rid of all rough pieces. So, it is quite a process before you can start using it.
Ever since Hanka had her own kiln installed in her home a few years ago, things have become a bit easier. Before, she would fire her pieces at the studio of well-known Surinamese artist, Soeki Irodikromo. Her passion began when she was still a little girl. As a child, her parents had a camping site in the Netherlands. There was a potter there and Hanka quickly became fascinated by what was done with the clay, even though she didn’t do much with it herself back then.
It wasn’t until she had been living in Suriname for some time, around 1980, that she really started. “I met Hans Lie and he took me to Ons Erf. There I got very good lessons from Ted Heymans. He really taught me a lot. That you have to work threedimensionally, how to make open forms. For me it has to be beautiful.” Afterwards she also took ceramics lessons at Soeki Irodikromo. Although she occasionally still misses working with others, she now works primarily by herself, in her own studio. Her work is on display in Readytex Art Gallery at the Steenbakkerijstraat 30, Paramaribo. She also participates in the Nationale Kunstbeurs (National Art Fair) almost every year. Her work is also included in the collection of the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo. In 2004, she received the award for the best work at the Nationale Kunstbeurs.
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Click to view slideshow.Hanka was a stewardess for the KLM before she married Martin Wolterstorff. She already knew him from the Netherlands, but married him in Suriname. When the SLM started, on August 30th 1962, Hanka was one of the first employees. “We were a group of six stewardesses and three stewards. The very first SLM-crew…” After three years Hanka left the SLM and it was time for a new challenge. She does however, look back on that period with great pleasure. We went to the interior with the Twin Otter and to Curaçao with the DC 9. It was a wonderful time!”
