Riven
Hennie Meyer
06.12.2025 - 11.01.2026
Hennie Meyer is exemplary in his approach to ceramic art… not only for the impactful appearance of the works but, of greater significance, for the thought processes that give rise to those, and which can be read in them. Over the span of his 42-year lengthy and influential career as a ceramist, Hennie introduced singular designs which initially developed into ranges and then, in a process of deliberated revisioning, grew to become new expressions of thinking, seeing and presentation.
This exhibition is Hennie’s ceramic autobiography. The works represents his diversity of form but underpinning all is his analytical reasoning and strategic methodology. There is a continuous examination of the fit of parts which individually are distinctive but in cohesion, mimic our social structure in which there is a continuous and dynamic interaction of the elements. Hennie believes that being part of the whole is a given and inescapable fact but that we are not shackled to a predetermined destiny. Every new ceramic design represents his thoughts on individuality within the framework of conformity.
In viewing any of the works on exhibit, it must therefore be born in mind that though they are individualistic, they flow from all that preceded them. The mural installation (Studio) which offers a detailed and intimate look of Hennie’s studio, is comprised of 315 square boxes. Hennie views his studio as a sacred and intimate sanctuary. While each box in the mural is a collectable piece in its own right, it will lack in meaning when it is ignored that it previously formed a precise and critical part of the whole.
In the design of the gridded composition Galactic Funnel, Hennie faced the challenge of assembling a heavy, interlocking structure. In its entirety, it represents a contained space on its own but also constitutes a space within an environment. It is a repeat of the concept that nothing exists in isolation. The apertures, however, serve as viewfinders through which we view its setting in a bigger space. Depending on the angle of view and the focal point beyond any of the apertures, and factoring in our personal references for interpretation, the cube and its apertures induce different perspectives for how we see and for what we see as well as taking note of what is missing or found.
Hennie named this collection Riven. “Riven” refers to something that is split or divided into pieces or fractions by force rather than violence. It addresses his practice to preserve parts of earlier works which were either discarded or broken. By incorporating the parts into new works, Hennie extracts the meanings and values he associates with those and then wedges those into and onto new works. This is an act of preservation but also of reanimation. These works are not to be dismissed as bricolage (the assembly of a diverse range of available things). They are biographic constructs created with purposefully selected fragments that represent both the past and the present, capturing and sharing memories and values. They are also not “finished” because in the ownership of a new collector, additional references and sentiments will be added. It therefore behoves the observer to note the construct and its context.
The collection is also representative of Hennie’s mastery of materials, the skilled design of form, accomplished brushwork, and proficiency in firing to oxidation in an electric kiln or reduction firing with wood with the latter also extending to the challenge of anagama firing.
As a master of the ceramic arts Hennie continues to challenge both convention and conformity and to push the boundaries of the medium. Of equal importance is the intellectual substance which he embeds in every new iteration of his oeuvre. The hallmark of Hennie’s works is that they have aesthetic appeal but more so, they have substance.
Ronnie Watt, PhD
Research Associate: School of the Arts (Visual Arts), University of Pretoria, South Africa
