Femke van Heijningen
Feed in the Clay. Head in the Clouds
How can an artistic practice foccused on ceramic making and story sharing foster shared reflection and speculation about our living environments? To answer this, Femke van Heijningen writes about her practice as an artist, educator, and ceramist, who is finding her ground in the cultural field.
Her research is rooted in the process of working with wild clay: From finding ground, digging soil and filtering out the clay. To shaping, drying and firing that clay, and ending the process with a feast. These stages structure the thesis and become a method to reflect on her personal history, artistic practice, educational approach, and the commons.
The commons are shared natural, cultural, and social resources that require collective care, participation, and responsibility. In the thesis, this idea becomes a way to think about artistic practice not as something that happens separately from daily life, but as something rooted in place, relation, and mutual dependency. Through clay, Van Heijningen expands dialogue beyond human relationships, noticing how soil, clay, plants, animals, and places can also become participants in learning.
Through her projects, the research shows that ceramic making and story sharing can open up moments of attention, imagination, and connection. These moments do not produce community as a fixed outcome, but they can support the conditions from which commoning might grow: gathering around a material, listening to local stories, caring for what is already present, and returning to it over time.
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