HELGA RITSCH
Artist. Lives in the mountains on the south side of Grisons. Works in a studio house built in 1633 for two Capuchin monks. Returns to Zurich every now and then. Switzerland.
Artist. Lives in the mountains on the south side of Grisons. Works in a studio house built in 1633 for two Capuchin monks. Returns to Zurich every now and then. Switzerland.
CONTACT
ritsch@helga-ritsch.com
Studio & gallery & tea house
6562 Soazza
By appointment
Gallery
8032 Zurich
By appointment
NEXT EXHIBITION
PONTRESINA/CH Gallery Palü
Dec 20, 2022 – March 25, 2023
‘Nato a 600 m di altezza’
REPRESENTED
Gallery Essence Kyoto
KYOTO/Japan
Gallery Palü
PONTRESINA/Switzerland
CV – Born in Switzerland. Lives and works in Soazza/CH.
2001-2006: Trained as a ceramist with Mathies Schwarze
1989-1995: University of Zurich: Art History/German Philology/Philosophy (MA)
1987-1989: ETH Zurich: Architecture Department (BA)
Working as an independent artist since 1998
Member of the Swiss Ceramics Association ‘swissceramics’
WORK – Artist statement:‘I work mainly with porcelain and stoneware – sometimes I add other materials to my vessels. This distracts me and helps to bear many things better. I try to create a delicate atmosphere, an unsophisticated mood – sometimes an illusion: I want to add a touch of beauty to my surrounding. Even if it is only for a tiny moment.
Whether as an individual piece or as a group of works – I try to find shapes, details and surfaces that irritate, awake your imagination, sometimes enchant, also make you think and burn into your memory.
For this to hopefully succeed, I need most of my energy and time: I work slowly, destroy a lot, start all over again. Take breaks. Fractions belong to my path, as do the unexpected and the unconventional.
Anyone who can endure this is right with me.’
EXHIBITIONS (selection since 2017)
Solo
2022 Pontresina/GR, Switzerland: Galerie Palü. ‘nato a 600m di altezza’.
2021 Kyoto, Japan: Gallery Essence Kyoto. Invited by and with Iron Artist Motomu Oyama.
2020 Soazza/GR, Switzerland: Covid-19 drama.
2019 Tokyo, Japan: Gallery ‘hetLaboatrium, . ‘Circle’
2018 Singapore: Brewin Design Office
Group
2022 Seoul, Korea: University of Fine Arts,
2021 Zurich, Switzerland: Gallery Palü. Guest.
2019 Seoul, Korea: Gallery Lee Eugean, ‘Affaire de coeur 5’.
2019 Milan, Italy: Palazzo Bovara,
2019 Geneva, Switzerland: Gallery Ormond Edition,
2018 London, Greatbritain: HOSTEM, bluemountainschool .
2018 Hongkong, China: U11. swiss design.
2014 Zurich, Switzerland: Museum Rietberg
THREAD – Many people ask about the meaning of the thread that has been used for more than twenty years. Dr. Ronnie Watt, art historian, Canada, wrote in 2017 (s. press): .
..‘A signature decorative element which she regularly applies is a length of cotton thread which is looped through a fine hole and over the rim. The red thread is a reference to the German expression ‘der rote Faden des Erzählens’ which can be translated as ‘following your destiny’. With this leitmotiv, explains Ritsch, she ‘brings things together’ and that ‘my works are different, but the red thread holds them together’. At the same time it ‘stitches’ her works to her personal life experiences and philosophy. As a powerful albeit fragile decorative element, the thread is a visual and intellectual accent for a work but is simultaneously integral to that form because it is anchored in it.
PRESS (selection only)
2021: Photostory in the print only magazine ‘The Influencer’
2020: ‘Raum und Wohnen’
2019: Video by Fredrik Haren ‘Wondering in search of energy’
2019: ‘schönerwohnen‘
2018: ‘Ideales Heim‘
TABLEWARE COLLECTIONS
2016 ‘Blackbeauty’ – My tableware collection from hand thrown black porcelain
2012 ‘Snow’ – My tableware collection from hand thrown white porcelain
2008 ‘Pur’ – My tableware collection from hand thrown stoneware
Many tableware projects for private clients and Restaurants:
No orders
The journey on Instagram began in February 2016 and was pretty innovative at the time. Follow it via INSTAGRAM
Dear visitor. Please feel free to subscribe to our newletters and be informed about latest news, events and updates.