Petra Lindenbauer considers herself an applied ceramist who attaches great importance to the communicative nature of ceramics. Whenever Petra Lindenbauer is working with clay, there’s always a counterpart: a person, a room to which the ceramic refers, the form and an idea.
Good is better than perfect.
The ceramics of Petra Lindenbauer are always to be seen in a context. Tableware is made to be actively integrated in everyday life – it is made to be used: we touch it and feel the form, the clay, the glaze. The integrative character also stands for the interaction with the material. Time and again the ceramist discovers how much personality, dynamics and self-will the clay displays – if she allows it.
Perfection has no relevance in Petra Lindenbauer’s work. She strives to discover the will of the material and tries to tap its full potential. She prefers good to perfect, seeing the beauty of an object in its individual character.
Letting go at exactly the right moment.
Ideally the character of an object is not created by her but with her: originating from an idea she forms a concept, a process in which the clay can have its will and the resulting ceramic displays this interplay. For Petra Lindenbauer working with clay is not about forming a container, it is rather about finding exactly the right moment to let go – so that the object can find a final expression of its own.