Berit Hines: Wondrous Vessels
Opening Reception: January 10, 5-9pm
On View: January 10 – February 7, 2026
Morean Center for Clay
420 22nd St. S.
Artist Statement:
I approach the composition of my work with spontaneity and immediacy, discovering the form during the process of making it and listening to what my hands want to make. My work continues to explore form, using surface decoration and texture as integral parts of each piece.
I coil build and slab build one-of-a-kind ceramic vessels and forms that depict a break from symmetrical objects. My alteration and manipulation of the clay body emphasizes the plasticity and gestural qualities of that material while achieving asymmetry.
I like to explore sensual, dramatic shapes and accentuate them with contrasting textures and glazes. Vibrant colors play a vital role in this endeavor. Creating is a communicative process for me, the pieces “tell me” what to do in terms of color and surface treatment.
Though sculptural, many of my objects still retain their functionality. I work on several pieces at the same time, rotating them as needed, and thus they relate to each other in a natural manner.
My visual and tactile vocabulary is informed by minimalist traditions of my European background. One may find echoes of movement, dance, the natural world, the human body in my vessels, never being too literal. I strive to evoke a sense of stillness, represented by suspended movement in each form. Hopefully a sense of humor will shine through as well.
Artist Bio:
Berit Hines creates alluring vessels that blend sensibilities of sculpture, pottery, and two-dimensional art into lively creations that celebrate the functional vessel and bring rich personality to a space. Born in Germany, educated in Fine Art in The Netherlands, and now living in the US, Berit brings a perspective all her own to vessel making. Her forms are alive with movement, with hand-built stoneware coiled or slab forms bending and twirling as though dancing. Some of her forms, such as her Café Flatte cups, are flattened, offering the surprise of looking like more traditional, voluminous vessels from one view with contrasting narrowness from another. Berit decorates these delightful forms with lavish sgraffito and mishima that create stunning texture and color play, calling to mind patterns from nature as well as pottery-decorating traditions and woodcut prints. A playful post-modern current runs through this work, nudging us to think about the functional vessel in new ways. Whether displayed against a wall or out on a table to be viewed in the round, delightful surprises lie in store for those experiencing this wonderful work packed with personality.
Born in Bremen, Germany, Berit Hines earned her BFA in Ceramics at the Royal Academy for Art and Design, Den Bosch, The Netherlands. She worked as a studio artist and ceramics teacher, showing in The Netherlands and Germany, before moving to the US. She now works as a Studio Artist at the Morean Center for Clay in St. Petersburg, FL and shows her delightful sculptural pottery nationally.
