Slab to Songbird – Sophie Lankovsky, New Zealand Potter

New Zealand potter, Sophie Lankovsky, is based in Hawke’s Bay. Her studio is sited in a natural environment where the songs of native birds thrill her ears as she creates clay sculptures of them as like to life that they might hop out of your grasp.

Born in the year of the Dragon, in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1952, Sophie attended a Rudolf Steiner School from the age of 7 to 21. She fell in love with clay at age 14, and says, “One of our school teachers inspired us to create a landscape relief from solid clay (model), and then to make a plaster mould of it which was used in turn to produce the hollows in the panel. I spent every free minute in the clay room perfecting the panel, reveling in the feel, smell and plasticity of clay. The 50cm x 50cm panel was eventually fired and wall-mounted.

These days Sophie produces mainly low-fired raku pottery, moving from domestic ware towards non-functional abstract forms such as the stylised birds for which she is now well-known.

“I fire in my raku kiln in Havelock North – a perfect setting, but weather dependent. On a fine day it’s possible to fire up to 20 birds, six at a time. My son often helps lift the top hat kiln at top temperature, allowing me to grab the pieces with tongs and bury them in sawdust. When they are excavated a little later, they are completely transformed and wearing shiny blacks along with typical sparkling raku colours on the glazed portions.”

Inspiration comes from nature – plant, animal, and human.  “I love colour,” she says, “and my work is designed with tactile values in mind.  It’s important to me how a pot feels and handles. Sometimes I’ll fashion a piece with my eyes closed so I can properly feel the surface I’m trying to create.”

In Germany, handmade pottery is valued so craft potters abound and their work is appreciated.  “I grew up with creativity at home and at school.  My mother was creative and exposed us (I have four sisters) to many ways of creating beautiful things. We painted, drew and crafted with paper, wax and other materials, and we always hand made our Christmas presents.  It was a way of life.”

“When my partner came to New Zealand in 1978, I came too, but my qualification as a social worker wasn’t acceptable. I decided to learn to make pots.  My first workshop in Hastings was a glasshouse and I recall the wet pots falling apart during a frosty night. There weren’t many books about pottery then, just the classics, Elizabeth Lissaman’s Pottery for Pleasure in Australia and New Zealand, and, A Potter’s Book by Bernard Leach.  I joined Keirunga Potters in Havelock North and was eventually invited by Chloe King to work in her studio.  We fired a two chamber oil kiln and an oil brick kiln which we salted.

“By 1982 I had moved with my partner to Nelson and set up a studio with a fibre-oil kiln and was making functional stoneware pots which sold through a Wellington Gallery. I worked in Ross Richards’ studio for a while. He allowed me in his workshop but offered no instruction and I learned by looking on.   I learned about wood firing from him.

“In 1987, with my kiln loaded onto a truck, I drove to Whangarei and there became involved in the Quarry Arts Centre where I rented a studio which was space shared by three or four potters. I met Yvonne Rust who founded the Quarry.  Although she didn’t directly influence my pottery, she made a big impression on me as a woman of initiative. She taught figurative sculpture at a Summer Do workshop, though I hated the figure I made!  I attended several Summer Schools, where I met many potters and artists and experienced hands-on art making.

“On a visit to an aid program in Lombok, during a trip to Indonesia, I spent a week in a pottery village amongst the rice paddys and learnt to pot with anvil and paddle. The Indonesian technique consists of hollowing out a lump of clay with a smooth pebble, and paddling the outside with a wooden paddle while turning the pot. The clay walls are thinned by the paddling and, with skill, beautiful, voluminous pots can be achieved.  I still use a paddle as a shaping tool for my birds.”

Returning to Hawke’s Bay in 1991 Sophie attended a six-month design course at the Eastern Institute of Technology. The course included amongst other activities, life drawing, painting, computer skills, and design exercises. She also taught children’s pottery classes from her home studio.

When her husband’s work took them to Auckland in 2008, Sophie joined Auckland Studio Potters (ASP) and worked with Graham Ambrose to develop her pottery. She participated in numerous workshops and was able to mix with highly experienced potters, exchanging ideas and helping each other in a very social and active environment. Although working as a Kindergarten teacher during this phase, she began experimenting with creating the birds she has become known for, and fired them in the ASP raku kiln. She also built large scale commissions which she fired at ASP.

Sophie moved back to Hawke’s Bay in 2013, establishing a new professional home studio for her clay work. She fires often and says she enjoys the Bay for its natural environment. “I don’t need a radio since local native birds fill my ears constantly with sweet music.”  Occasionally friends and family join her in the studio to work with clay. She says, “I like to encourage interested people in this wonderful medium.”

Sophie’s work is available through Bonz Home Gallery- Queenstown,  Electra Gallery – Waipukurau, a&e Gallery – Napier, and Artmosphere Gallery – Waipawa.