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Almuth Tebbenhoff:

Bigger than I am

20 May 2020 | 20 minutes

Photo: Genevieve Stevenson

When Almuth Tebbenhoff came to London in the late 1960s she started from scratch: learning a new language, finding a job and studying to be a potter.

A decade later, a lucky meeting with Eduardo Paolozzi gave her the chance to study at the Royal College of Art where drawing classes, lectures and conversations with other artists led her from the world of ceramics into one with a wider range of materials.

Almuth Tebbenhoff, Untitled, 2020, fired clays

Almuth first came to Pietrasanta to work in marble in 2006. She talks about a few special projects she created in stone including a series of interlocked nutshell type boats, which appear to toss and turn on their journey.

Almuth Tebbenhoff, Voyage in a pale boat, 2016, Portuguese pink marble, 28 × 58 × 39cm

Another commission, Flow, lived outside the Salisbury Museum reflecting Almuth’s fascination for patterns made by water. It's this piece which she was restoring on the day Sarah Monk went to interview her at Studio Sem in Camaiore, just south of Pietrasanta.

Almuth Tebbenhoff, Flow, 2018, marble, 210 × 195 × 65cm plus base, Salisbury Museum

Repairing Flow, 2019, Studio Sem

Almuth Tebbenhoff, Sunset stack, 2019, fabricated steel, paint, 670 × 110 × 140cm, Quenington, Gloucestershire. Photo: Steve Russell

Almuth Tebbenhoff, Indensity, 2014, Portuguese pink marble, 80 × 60 × 40cm. Photo: Steve Russell

Credits

Producer: Sarah Monk

Editor: Michael Hall

Music: courtesy of

  • Silver Lining by EDH Music, London

  • Strata by Moby courtesy of mobygratis.com

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