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