Ulla Preising
From 1983 to 1997 I worked in the publishing and marketing sector. From 1988 to 1990 I studied Communication Science at the Academy of Marketing in Colon. In 1994 I had my first encounter with stone sculpting in Italy. Since 1997 I have been working as an independent artist and passed several study visits in Italy and Greece. Since 1999 I have been teaching sculpting at Campo dell’Altissimo in Italy, at the Adult Education Center in Hagen, Germany, and since 2001 at the European Summer Academy in many European Countries. In 2002 I started my own Sculpture School in Binsfeld with regular courses for beginners and advanced students. Since 2006 I have also been working for Bildhau (www.bildhau.de). In 2007 I moved to Wiehl (Germany) where I started my new studio.
About my work
I am in love with the white marble which gives me the opportunity to do very thin and fragile work. But I also find it exciting to process other materials, such as red and yellow travertine, into more compact and closed forms. In any case, it is always very important for me to work the material according to its nature and colour in way that the final object is defined by a harmony of idea, form and material.
Thus, searching for the right stone is just as important as its artistic treatment. This is where the process of selection, work, idea and the final result starts to become an entity.
My formal language belongs to the tradition of the so called „non-objective“ art and „abstract“ art. I receive my inspirations and intuitions from my very personal and sensual experience with myself, nature and my surroundings. My forms are expressions of my experiences, my feelings and my impressions.
In this process, two components work together: on one hand the spontaneous idea, the random finding, the vague idea, on the other hand a very conscious advancement to the final form. This way, my art never is a product of serendipity but a development from serendipity to what I wanted.
I am fascinated by this work process. I think, plan, draw and model and then I confront the stone.
But sometimes I encounter something totally different and change my plans and thoughts in the artistic process.
This gives me the freedom to finally be much closer to myself, to my artistic vision, than it is possible with projects planned in detail. This way to work is very exciting to me and I am repeatedly very thrilled with it. I work „non-objective“ and „abstract“ because I do not want to reproduce what is going on within me, but I want to create.
And with my creatures – my pictures – I want to give the most possible freedom to the viewer to take his/her own personal view and opinion towards my sculptures. To create their own pictures and creatures. To create their own closeness to the object.