Sabine Lemke, German Ceramic Artist who Loves Wales

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?

I ‘m living in Lüneburger Heide (near Hamburg) in northern Germany. Sometimes I’m a little bit weird and crazy but always friendly. I love to laugh and making my little cottages (I ‘m interested in old Welsh buildings) and I love long walks in the countryside….. love the sea, the woods and the hills. Like to play my tin whistle and paint landscapes and cottages. 

My biggest dream is to own one day a bigger kiln to make bigger houses and tealight cottages.

You are from Northern Germany – what is your link to Wales?

I have loved Wales since I was 12 years old. At that time  I Collected photos and books about Wales.   Reading many books about Welsh history, I dreamed of visiting and was determined to go to Wales when I was 18.

But alas life was not good when I reached 18 years old as my father died of cancer. I had to help my mother at work ( we was self-employed office cleaners) …. all the dreams of my life died… The next 34 years working,  working, working without holidays. But I Never forgot Wales.   

In 2016 I had a very bad time and was so sad that my desire for Wales became unbearable.  I thought ‘now or never’ …. at Easter, I decided to visit Wales…. and made the journey of my dreams.

Since that time I visit Wales once or twice every year and wish I could stay forever – hiraeth

Have you any other artists in the family?

Yes, my great-grandma was a milliner and my grandpa wrote songs.

Where did you get the idea to start making the cottages?

During my first visit to Wales, I bought a book with black and white photos from Pembrokeshire. There was a photo of an abandoned, ruined farmhouse in the Preseli Hills (O.M.G. I can’t say how much I love this tiny house which I  found and visited Trinant ten times to see it.

I wanted to create a miniature of Trinant made of wood (Nooo!) and decided instead to make it from air drying clay as I didn’t own a kiln at that time and had never worked with clay before. I kept practising and practising making the miniature Trinant cottage.  

My dream was to work with real clay and last year I made a pit fire in my garden.  Most of the poor cottages that I made were destroyed in the fire but five have survived…my first ceramic cottages.

Weeks later I bought a kiln.

How long have you been making them?

Since 2016 and Ceramic since 2019

Have you got a workshop, or do you do this from home?

I have a little art room in my house. 

What do you make them out of?

They are made from clay/ceramic and painted with acrylic – they are then fired at 1040 degrees in the kiln.

I carve the stamp tools for doors and windows  

Do you paint or glaze the cottages?

I paint them with acrylic but sometimes I glaze one or two.

What other artwork do you do?

I paint and draw landscapes and houses.

Where do you sell them?