Simon’s motif is gestalt in its infinite manifestations. He works with clay, preferably wild clay and other remarkable natural objects he mostly finds in nature. Experiencing the geological metabolism of clay is a journey of lifelong learning and awe ever since he was a child. He facilitates tiny instantaneous accelerations in sculpting, turning or painting. Forging the clay in the intense heat of the kiln and fusing it with natural ash glaze and relies only on bare necessities to create. His work is an open-ended series of takes. Meetings of moments in life with deep time. Some effortless, some struggling, intense or chill. Each is a unique expression experiencing deep time, real and now.

Simon is a native German and son of the 20th century ceramic artists Dorothea Chabert and Volker Ellwanger. He grew up in the castle of Wolfsburg (www.wolfsburg.de/kultur/museen/schloss-wolfsburg), a center for visual and applied arts, art events, music and theater. A childhood helping and playing with clay in his parent’s studio while being immersed in the castle’s eclectic artist community was formative and inspiring. After high school he followed an invitation to Japan to study with ceramic artists Daiguji Michiko and Tappo Narui in Mashiko for seven years.