Rokkjaer, Inger

First name: 
Inger
Initials: 
I.
Surname: 
Rokkjaer
Year of birth: 
1934
Country of birth: 
Denmark
Working period: 
1969
Year of death: 
2008
CV: 

Inger Rokkjaer is born on February 20, 1934. She studied at the Jutland Academy of Fine Arts, Århus, from 1965 to 1970. One of her tutors there was Gutte Eriksen. She set up her own workshop in 1969, later returning to the Academy to teach from 1982 to 1986.

"Inger Rokkjaer was one of the finest Danish potters of her generation. She found a language that was simple, clear and confident – cylinders, bowls and lidded jars that were restrained but full of their maker’s inimitable spirit. Her concentrated forms, thrown on the wheel, perhaps carved or faceted, sometimes embellished with incised and impressed decoration and then glazed in quietly luminous or earthier colours, had a rich raku depth and variation. There was a marked concision, a way of saying so much with a remarkable economy of means. Yet what springs to mind first in thinking about Inger, was the force and vividness of her personality. She was so engaged. Her animated face and conversation, those warm affectionate eyes and that broad smile made her a very singular person – a charisma that simply lit up the room. It was this openness and generosity, this embracing energy and passion that Inger brought to her life and pots, and touched everyone who knew her." David Whiting, 15 December 2008 (text provided by Galerie Besson).

Rokkjaer lived and worked in Hadsten (Central Jutland, Denmark) - Den Gamle Planteskole.

Exhibitions in the Netherlands: Galerie Amphora, Oosterbeek (NL) (1993); Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam (NL) (1995); Galerie Loes & Reinier, Deventer (1998, 2002, 2006).

Pictures: Portrait of Inger Rokkjaer, ca. 2003 (brochure Galerie Loes & Reinier); portrait, 2005 (source Galerie Besson); orange box, 2007 (source Cultural Connections); bowl, blue stripes (source kaolin.se).

Work of the artist: 

In the introduction to her last exhibition at Galerie Besson in London in 2005, friend and fellow potter Margaret O'Rorke wrote: "Throughout her career Inger Rokkjaer has continued to pursue the mysteries of the lidded jar. The lid conceals the secrets held within the rim and the interior of the vessel. Bowls, teabowls and cylinders also enter her vocabulary, all demonstrating her continual pursuit of form, texture and colour through the traditional process of Raku firing...An original translation of Raku denotes 'happiness', a lightness of spirit which pervades Inger’s works" (text Galerie Besson).