Sometimes we get in our own way the most. Like I did to myself!
When I left school at 18 with my high school diploma in my pocket, I knew little about life and even less about myself. My dream was to study art. From a young age, I spent most of my time sculpting and painting things. Still, I didn't apply to the art academy because I thought I wasn't talented enough.
Every day we make decisions, big or small, that determine our future path. Our entire life path depends on these many individual decisions. So here MY WAY to the sculptor:
MARBLE SCULPTUR
Instead of applying to the Academy of Fine Arts, I decided to study medicine at the University of Vienna. I gave it up after just one semester. In retrospect, I would say that I was not particularly psychologically stable at the time and had little confidence in myself. I also dropped out of the following training as a dental technician after a few months. My parents must have been desperate. Surprisingly, they didn't let me feel it. I still give them credit for that today.
A traineeship at an advertising agency gave me the idea of going into the media. I enrolled as a student of communications, sociology and psychology. And this time I persevered. With my master's degree in my pocket, I plunged into the media industry.
REPORTER AT THE FEI WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES 2006 IN AACHEN
For 25 years I worked with a lot of passion as a TV writer, director and producer. In over 70 TV documentaries and magazine features, people, especially women, were my focus.
I loved to dive into the lives of other people, to explore their fractures, edges, turning points, to build an arc of suspense, to break down stories into settings.
25 YEARS OF TV WORK... HERE ARE SOME FILMS ABOUT PEOPLE AND HORSES.
Without being aware of it, I worked all these years with the 3-D view of a sculptress.
But it was not until 1995 that I was able to free the sculptress slumbering inside me.
In the meantime I lived with my family, horses, dogs and cats on a farm in Lower Bavaria. By chance I discovered a sculpture course in the Holledau local newspaper. Spontaneously I registered. A pure gut decision!
ON OUR SMALL FARM WE HAD QUARTERHORSES, CRIOLLOS AND MISSOURI FOXTROTTERS.
When I finally struck the stone for the first time, it was as if I had been waiting for this moment all my life. At the stone I was at home, here I had arrived. Here everything flowed together. Working the stone felt easy to me. Like dancing with hammer and chisel. As if I had never done anything else.
SANDSONE-SCULPTUR
To elicit a figure from the stone, you have to knock away material, reduce the form to the essentials. And what is once knocked away, is gone. Nothing can be undone. Fascinating! Just like in life!
Every stroke is a commitment to the NOW. Wonderful! The past is gone and you can only work forward.
I WORK WITH HAMMER AND CHISEL, BUT MOSTLY WITH COMPRESSED AIR.
SCULPTURES IN SANDSTONE AND MARBLE, JURASSIC LIMESTONE, OFTEN COMBINED WITH ANIMAL HORN, LEAD, IRON.
Sometimes it happens that a piece of stone chips off. A finger, an eyebrow, an ear. Annoying?! NO, because in fact such a mishap only clears the way for a new thought, a new view of the figure. Our head can only think what it is capable of. If an ear is suddenly missing, the stone forces us to think a new way. I am grateful for that.
MY PARADISE ON EARTH - MY STONE-WORKSHOP For 20 years I sculptured away in seclusion. I was still making films. Until one morning - I had just turned 50 - I was dreading shooting the ninth episode of a scripted reality series. It had been looming for the last few months. Although I loved my work, I was increasingly suffering from the trashy development of television. Nothing was sacred anymore. There were fewer and fewer serious productions. The air was out.
But without passion everything is nothing for me. That's why I decided to end my film career and dedicate myself in all consequence to my passion, the stone, sculpture.
When I stand at the stone, I am sweaty, dirty and breathing dust, and yet I am still the happiest person in the world and forget everything around me. This is my way of meditation.
MARBLE In the meantime, the sculpture has also been added to the painting. My themes are of course horses and people.
OIL ON CANVAS Then in 2019 another dream came true. I took over an old GYM hall and turned it into a gallery with attached studio in Palma's El Terreno district. The renovation work is completed in 2020. After Corona the gallery is to be opened.
THE OLD GYM-HALL, ALREADY UNDER RECONSTRUCTION.
DER UMBAU IST ABGESCHLOSSEN. DER HINTERE TEILE DER GALERIE MIT ZUKÜNFTIGER AUSSTELLUNGSFLÄCHE, KÜCHE, OFFICE, ATELIER
THE GALLERY, CALLE ROBERT GRAVES 52, PALMA
There I will exhibit and work at the same time. Because I want people who visit the gallery to be able to witness how a sculpture is peeled from the stone or a 'picture is created. Dust and oil smell inclusive....
JAK
THE NEW GALERY - OPENING EXPECTED AUTUMN 2020
I came to the stone in a roundabout way. Nevertheless, I am grateful for every meter, because they have brought me a sea of experiences. I was allowed to learn that everything has its time and some gifts have to wait until one has the appropriate maturity to accept and live them.
More sculptures and paintings on my homepage
LIFE - WHAT A RIDE?! BE BRAVE, LIVE YOUR DREAM AND DON'T STOP REINVENTING YOURSELF. AGE IS NO LIMITATION!!!
