Enamelled, Incised and Gilded Sandstone Sculpture by Gerd Hiort Petersen

Gerd Hiort Petersen thus became, from 1965 to 1973, one of the rare independent artists to join the design workshops of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Copenhagen.
It was there that she developed two apparently opposing techniques which became her trademark: on the one hand, finely turned porcelain bowls decorated with watercolor or graphically, and on the other hand stoneware works resembling rocks or territories, made in a fairly raw brown chamotte clay.
It was also the time of his first personal exhibitions, in 1966 and 1969, within the factory, where his sandstones were very appreciated. His personal work is definitely recognized internationally
when she won first prize at the 2nd International Exhibition of Ceramic Art in Gdansk, Poland, in 1973. The same year – and until 1978 – she received a work grant from the Danish Arts Foundation, to help her establish her own studio. She then decided to return to the island of Bornholm, with her second husband, the ceramist Hans Munck Andersen, whom she met at the royal factory in Copenhagen. They will have three children together and will now share their workshop. The most important of his exhibitions, in the 1970s, was entitled “Colors and Structure” (1978), at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Copenhagen. After receiving first prize at the International Arts and Crafts Exhibition in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 1984, Gerd Hiort Petersen's international career was confirmed. In 1974, she was the second Danish ceramist (after Karen Park) to join the International Academy of Ceramics (AIC/IAC), a large association representing the interests of ceramists around the world, headquartered in Geneva. Gerd participated in the AIC study trip to Japan in 1980, during an exhibition in Kyoto, and then visited Japan again in 1996. Gerd Hiort Petersen has received numerous prestigious awards in Denmark. She (like her husband Hans Munck Andersen) was represented in Copenhagen by the famous Nørby gallery, in the 90s and 2000s. The couple exhibited notably in Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United States, and even, in 1991, in Brazil. Her husband's work has in fact often been associated with her own in international exhibitions. Numerous integrations of their works respective museums were made in prestigious museums, notably at the Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen, at the Bornholm Art Museum, at the National Museum in Gdansk, at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, in Oslo, in Gothenburg in Sweden, in Hannover and at Höhr-Grenzhausen in Germany…
Gerd Hiort Petersen est ainsi devenue, de 1965 à 1973, l’une des rares artistes indépendantes à intégrer les ateliers de création en design de la Manufacture royale de porcelaine de Copenhague.
C’est là qu’elle a développé deux techniques apparemment opposées qui sont devenues sa marque de fabrique : d’une part, des bols en porcelaine finement tournés et décorés à l’aquarelle ou de manière graphique, et d’autre part des œuvres en grès ressemblant à des rochers ou à des territoires, réalisées dans une argile chamottée brune assez brute.
C’est aussi l’époque de ses premières expositions personnelles, en 1966 et 1969, au sein de la manufacture, où ses grès furent très appréciés. Son travail personnel est définitivement identifié internationalement
lorsqu’elle remporte le premier prix de la IIe Exposition internationale d’art céramique de Gdansk, en Pologne, en 1973. La même année – et jusqu’en 1978 – elle recevra une bourse ...