The Gallery is now open
Friday and Saturdays 10am-4pm
Sundays 12-4pm
Anke Dirks-Wehrmann
Ceramics
Anke grew up on a farm in Northern Germany where she studied Agriculture. She immigrated to Canada in 1985, where she and her husband Harro built up a farm near Kincardine, Ontario. For the last thirty years
their farming consists of Organic Production. In 2005, Anke was introduced to Pottery after a bad car accident. She took classes with Ruth Dalton in Ripley. Pottery was her new passion and it felt
like therapy. After her health improved it was back to farming with little time to play with clay and she almost stopped. Fortunately, that all changed when, in the summer of 2017, she took part in a throwing camp at Haliburton School of Art and Design. At first, Anke made functional pieces but gradually became more curious about the aspect of the abstract and artistic side of the ceramic world after studying under Christopher Reid Flock, at Mohawk college.
Lately, Anke is also exploring the aspect of Wood Firing, a term used to describe pottery fired in a kiln fuelled with wood. The duration of the firing can last 24 hours to 7 days, depending on the type of Wood Kiln. During the firing, ‘fly ash’ from the fire is drawn into the chamber, settles and eventually fluxes and melts to form a natural ‘ash glaze’ on the surface of the pottery. The position of each piece in the kiln determines just how much ash settles on it and consequently how much of a glaze, or flashing is achieved on its surface. The flashing is therefore a direct reflection of the passage of the flame through the kiln during the firing. The duration of the firing, the design of the kiln, the form of the ceramic piece and the different clay bodies used are all contributing factors of the effects achieved.