Biography

Our family is comprised of my father, my mother, and four girls.

My father was a joiner and always wanted a son as his successor, but under the circumstances he had to orientate himself on "us girls". I myself was the third-born and already as a small child spent a lot of time in his workshop.

Father always had a lot of time for children in general, and so it was a matter of course for me and my playmates to have materials and tools at our disposal to hand-craft our games ourselves. Already at that time my father recognized my talent for handicraft.

Later on, during the holidays, I worked along with him in the workshop. This was a pleasure for me, because I loved the atmosphere there and was able to "pick up" many interesting things. I understood father´s creativity and appreciation for individual, beautiful design.

From him I learned not to be afraid of anything and also to tackle big projects. Uncomplicated thinking and trial and error - many individual and beautiful things resulted on this basis again and again.

I wanted to be able to do this as well, and so I informed my parents that I wanted to attend the Higher Technical School for Arts and Crafts in Innsbruck.

My mother was not enthusiastic about this in the least. I was a petite girl, and she preferred to have me working along with her in the hotel. That simply didn’t appeal to me at all.

I was able to assert myself with my classmates and instructors, and was the only girl to complete the schools’ programme of study as a joiner’s apprentice.

It was during this period of time that I gained a better understanding of art, and I looked very closely at the exhibitions that we visited in the course of schooling.

But life takes its own course – I came into the very area I had earlier found so unappealing, the hotel and restaurant industry, and worked in it for many years.

But the wish and the urge for creativity were stronger. And so I began to work and experiment with clay. Old hand-forged tools and objects of daily use had always attracted me magically, and so I began to collect them and incorporate them into my works. This was finally the right thing for me.

Persons of very different natures and cultures, who I encountered time and again during my many trips, fascinate me, and are the source and inspiration of my works of art.

Inspirations and ideas keep me awake, and so I also work at night until the right form of expression is found.

Sunlight or the reflexion of the television set – the expressions of my sculptures change again and again; they communicate with me. Knowing this can be addictive and is a driving force to develop new forms.

Today, when I look back on these things, I know that I have always had this gift in me. When I look ahead, I know that I can also realise it.