About
"Clay is full of sculptural possibilities - with its malleability and its ambivalence between permanence and transition, its reflection of nature and existence, especially of life cycles. Pottery is an ancient craft that explores these qualities directly with the use of hands and fingers. While working with the wet material, repetitively poking, hitting, squeezing, in a process that connects the living and the dead, I let the hands guide me. I describe my daily work as thinking with the hands."
Biography
1956 born in Aarau, Switzerland
1972-1976 Kantonsschule Aarau
1978 work and research for ceramics in Sifnos, Greece
1978 work at Jean Linard Studio, La Borne / Henrichemont, France
1979-1982 Ecole des arts décoratifs, Genève, Switzerland
1983 work at Margrit Linck Studio, Bern, Switzerland
1984 work and research in Sun Valley, Center for Arts and Humanities, Idaho, USA
1989 work and research in sculpture at San Francisco Art Institute, USA
2001-2004 Master of Landscape Architecture / Cultural Focus, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA
2016 work in Rheinfelden and Basel, Switzerland
Awards
1981 Prix de l'oeuvre, Ecole des Arts décoratifs, Genève, Switzerland
1987 Werkbeitrag Stadt und Kanton Bern, Switzerland
1988 Werkbeitrag Stadt und Kanton Bern, Switzerland
1995 Aeschlimann/Corti Stipendium, Switzerland
1998 Werkbeitrag der Kommission für Kunst und Architektur, Kanton Bern, Switzerland
2000 Kluesing Fellowship of the University of Illinois, USA
Solo Exhibitions
1988 Galerie Toni Gerber, Bern, Switzerland
1990 Kunstraum Burgdorf, Switzerland
1993 Kunsthalle Bern, in connection with the 19. Berner Kunstausstellung, Switzerland
1994 Kabinett, Bern, Switzerland
1997 Haus Salmegg, Rheinfelden, Germany, curated by Elisabeth Kaufmann
1997 Galerie Francesca Pia, Bern, Switzerland
1998 Poste d'Art contemporain, Fribourg, Switzerland
2000 Galerie Francesca Pia, Bern, Switzerland
2001 9.5 Room for exhibiting Art, Champaign IL, USA, curated by Buzz Spector
2021 'Geology, Cooking Heart, Curious and other stories', Basel, Switzerland, curated by Angelika Li
Group Exhibitions
1985 Six fois la porcelaine, Limoges, France
1987 'Fliegender Teppich', Galerie Toni Gerber, Bern, Switzerland
1988 'Künstler aus Bern', Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland, curated by Josef Helfenstein
1993 'Körper II', Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Basel, Switzerland
1994 'hauttief', Helmhaus, Zürich, Switzerland
1996 Biennale de céramique contemporaine, Château d'Aubonne, Céramique Contemporaine Suisse, Maison de la Céramique, Mulhouse, France
1997 The Young Art Fair, Liste 97, Basel, Switzerland, represented by Galerie Francesca Pia
2021 Homeland in Transit: Through the Clouds, Basel, Switzerland, curated by Angelika Li
2021 The Grantees, Calvinhaus, Bern, Switzerland
2021-2022 Shangri-la, Kunstforum Solothurn, Solothurn, Switzerland
Publications
Berner Almanach, Motivation. 2 Gespräche mit Künstlern, Bern, 1996
Festschrift zum 100. Geburtstag von Margrit Linck, Bern, 1997
Bibliography
Exhibition cat. Künstler aus Bern, Shedhalle Zurich,1988
Exhibition cat. Dorothee Sauter, with texts by U. Loock and Y. Volkart, Kunsthalle Bern, 1993
Exhibition cat. hauttief, Helmhaus Zurich, 1994
M. Bariswyl-Desdoux: Dorothee Sauter, in: Exhibition cat. Biennale de ceramique contemporaine, Chateau d'Aubonne, 1996
H.R Reust, Sockel fliessender Formen, in: Berner Kunstmitteilungen, Oktober 1995
Thomas Hostettler, Atelierbesuch: Dorothee Sauter, in Berner Almanach, Bern 1996
F. Haag, Hartes und Weiches vereint, in: Berner Woche, August 29, 1997
Beate Engel, Dorothee Sauter in der Galerie Francesca Pia, in: Das Kunstbulletin, Oktober 1997
Fred Zaugg/Alexander Egger, Einladung vom Taktilen her, in: Lokaltermin Atelier II, Bern 1998
Angelika Li, Dorothee Sauter: Geology, Cooking Heart, Curious and other stories in www.onkili.com, Basel, Hong Kong, 2021