And if glazes, as you say, bring down the sun / Your potter’s wheel is bringing up the earth.
Sonja Landweer (1933 - 2019) was already an established ceramics artist in the Netherlands, her country of birth, when she came to Ireland in 1965, where she would remain until her death. Joining as an artist-in-residence at the emerging Kilkenny Design Workshops, soon after her move she met Barrie Cooke, a fellow artist and painter who had emigrated from the United States. The two artists fell in love and were together for 20 years, a period of intense creativity for them.
On 25 April, the Irish auction house deVeres will present 75 works by Sonja Landweer and 30 paintings by Barrie Cooke at auction, as well as pieces from the artists' studio, recreated for the sale viewing at 35 Kildare Street, Dublin (21-25 April).
Before coming to Ireland, Sonja was known in Europe as a member of the 'Amsterdam Six' group. She had exhibited internationally and was awarded the Verzetsprijs in the Netherlands in 1964, and later the Prix Artistique, Biennale Internationale de Céramique d’Art, Villauris, France. Although she has now become a household name in Ireland, that wasn't always the case: when she first moved in the 1960s, the Irish art scene had neither the exposure nor the language to discuss high-quality ceramic work. That initial challenge would shape much of Landweer's oeuvre, who embraced the Irish landscape as her source of inspiration, drawing forms, materials, and colours from the enchanting surroundings.
To Ireland, she brought an anthroposophical background, which gave her a deep respect for nature and its processes. At Kilkenny Design Workshops, she worked to understand and represent Irish culture and the 'relationship between form, clay and glazing'. She had an alchemical knowledge of minerals, which she employed in her experiments with indigenous glazes and patinations. The forms she created out of those materials were deeply connected to the Irish landscape, and in some way always reflected nature or anthropology.
In the 1980s, forced to abandon throwing pots for almost 15 years as a result of an illness, she dedicated herself to less physically intense work, such as jewellery and printmaking. In 2000, an unfortunate accident in her studio that led to the destruction of her unfired pots brought her to a new artistic direction. At Ann Mulrooney's suggestion, she started casting the forms in bronze instead of clay. This new medium allowed her to experiment with new chemical processes and forms, and the results were bronze sculptures with almost a magical, organic quality to them.
In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in 1995, the late Irish poet Seamus Heaney read To a Dutch Potter in Ireland for Sonja Landweer, inspired by his friendship with Sonja. One of her greatest admirers, he called her ceramics Hosannas ex furnis, 'hymns forged from fire'.
Among Seamus Heaney's circle of close artistic friends was also Barrie Cooke, who had arrived in Ireland in the mid-1950s. He had fallen in love with Sonja in the early 1960s and the couple moved to Thomastown together, then settling at Jerpoint. Sonja was incredibly influential in the development of his work.
Having first studied biology at Harvard before switching to art history, Cooke's art was from the very beginning engaged with the natural world and its processes. Fishing was a central activity in both his life and his art, and he was noticed early on by Patrick Collins, one of Ireland's foremost painters, for his paintings of salmon. Sonja had introduced him to Sensitive Chaos, Theodore Schwenk’s study of water and its flowing processes, and the concept of flow ran through all of his works, whether in human or animal portraits and the many rivers, lakes and oceans depicted in his paintings.
In Thomastown, the couple fostered a hugely creative community, co-founding the Kilkenny Arts Festival. Throughout their career, both artists have been widely recognised for their contribution to Irish art history. Barrie Cooke exhibited extensively at Hendriks Gallery and Kelrin Gallery in Dublin in solo exhibitions, and his work is included in several public and private collections. Sonja Landweer was given several retrospectives throughout her life, including the most extensive one at Visual, in 2011. The significance of her art was recognised and celebrated with awards in Holland, Ireland and France.
The Studio Auction: Sonja Landweer & Barrie Cooke will take place at deVeres auction house, Dublin on 25 April. The sale comprises 75 works by Landweer and 30 paintings by Barrie Cooke, including his portrait of Sonja. Items from the studio, including her potters seat, kiln and wheel are also featured, as well as pieces collected by other artists. Many of the works will be offered on the market for the first time ever.
