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, works in Basel and Rheinfelden, Switzerland

2001-2004 Master of Landscape Architecture / Cultural Focus, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA

1989 work and research in sculpture at San Francisco Art Institute, USA

1984 work and research in Sun Valley, Center for Arts and Humanities, Idaho, USA

1983 work at Margrit Linck Studio, Bern, Switzerland

1982 work at Ulla Viotti Studio, Hammenhög, Sweden

1979-1982 Ecole des arts décoratifs, section ceramics, Geneva, Switzerland

1978 work and research with local ceramists in La Borne, Henrichemont, France

1978 work and research with local ceramists in Sifnos, Greece

Solo Exhibitions

2024 ‘Tumbling Through Time’, Villa Renata, Basel, Switzerland

2021 'Geology, Cooking Heart, Curious and other stories', PF 25, Basel, Switzerland, curated by Angelika Li

2001 9.5 Room for exhibiting Art, Champaign IL, USA, curated by Buzz Spector

2000 ‘Being at a loss’, Galerie Francesca Pia, Bern, Switzerland

1997 Galerie Francesca Pia, Bern, Switzerland

1997 Haus Salmegg, Rheinfelden, Germany, curated by Elisabeth Kaufmann

1994 Kabinett, Bern, Switzerland

1993 Kunsthalle Bern, in connection with the 19. Berner Kunstausstellung, Switzerland

1990 Kunstraum Burgdorf, Switzerland mit Silvia Bächli

1988 Galerie Toni Gerber, Bern, Switzerland

Group Exhibitions

2025 'EinBlick', Filiale, Basel, curated by Eric Hattan

2024 ’weg ist weg’, space 25, Basel

2024 ’Ein langer Weg in kurzer Zeit, Tomas Kratky und seine Gegenwart’, Villa Renata, Basel

2022 ’Regionale 23’, Kunsthalle Basel

2021 ’Shangri-La’, Kunstforum Solothurn

2021 ’The Grantees’, Calvinhaus, Bern, curated by Hans Stalder

2021 ’Homeland in transit: through the clouds’, PF 25, curated by Angelika Li

1998 Poste d'Art contemporain, Fribourg, Switzerland

1997 The Young Art Fair, Liste 97, Basel, represented by Galerie Francesca Pia

1996 Biennale de céramique contemporaine, Château d'Aubonne, Switzerland

1996 ’Céramique Contemporaine Suisse’, Maison de la Céramique, Mulhouse, France

1994 ‘Hauttief’, Helmhaus, Zürich, curated by Marie-Louise Lienhard

1993 ’Körper II’, Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Basel

1988 ’Künstler aus Bern’, Shedhalle, Zurich, curated by Josef Helfenstein

1987 ’Fliegender Teppich’, Galerie Toni Gerber, Bern

1985 ‘Six fois la porcelaine’, Limoges, France

Awards

2000 Kluesing Fellowship of the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, USA

1998 Werkbeitrag der Kommission für Kunst und Architektur, Kanton Bern, Switzerland

1995 Aeschlimann/Corti Stipendium, Bern, Switzerland

1988 Werkbeitrag Stadt und Kanton Bern, Switzerland

1987 Werkbeitrag Stadt und Kanton Bern, Switzerland

1981 Prix de l'oeuvre, Ecole des Arts décoratifs, Geneva, Switzerland

Art in public spaces

1999 Domicil Schönegg, Bern, Switzerland

Bibliography

Angelika Li, Dorothee Sauter: Geology, Cooking Heart, Curious and other stories in www.onkili.com, Basel, Hong Kong, 2021

Fred Zaugg/Alexander Egger, Einladung vom Taktilen her, in: Lokaltermin Atelier II, Bern 1998

Beate Engel, Dorothee Sauter in der Galerie Francesca Pia, in: Das Kunstbulletin, Oktober 1997

F. Haag, Hartes und Weiches vereint, in: Berner Woche, August 29, 1997

M. Bariswyl-Desdoux: Dorothee Sauter, in: Exhibition cat. Biennale de ceramique contemporaine, Chateau d'Aubonne, 1996

Thomas Hostettler, Atelierbesuch: Dorothee Sauter, in Berner Almanach, Bern 1996

H.R. Reust, Sockel fliessender Formen, in: Berner Kunstmitteilungen, Oktober 1995

Exhibition cat. Hauttief, Helmhaus Zurich, 1994

Exhibition cat. Dorothee Sauter, with texts by U. Loock and Y. Volkart, Kunsthalle Bern, 1993

Exhibition cat. Künstler aus Bern, Shedhalle Zurich, 1988

Publications

Festschrift zum 100. Geburtstag von Margrit Linck, Bern 1997

Berner Almanach, Motivation. Zwei Gespräche mit Künstlern, Bern 1996