Nonna Hoogland - Ceramics

I started working with ceramics in 2020, and since then it has become one of my favorite disciplines. On this page I will share a collection of ceramics I have made along the way.

Lily of the Valley, Ceramics, 2024, © Maan Limburg

Girlies, Ceramics, 2024

'Girlies'

This vase was inspired by the Maenads, a group of female followers of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. They were an ecstatic whirlwind of chaos and destruction. It is said that in their frenzied state, they became so powerful that they could rip a bull apart with their bare hands.

I am very interested in the archetype of the ''wild'' or ''uncontrollable'' woman. She is the manifestation of a deep fear in our society: what a woman is capable of, once she stops conforming to the rules and ideals that are forced on her.

I love the Maenads and their chaotic energy. They just ran around, drank and had sex. Men were frightened of them and rightly so. They wouldn't hesitate to use brutal violence on a man who wronged them. Pop off girlies!

River Nymphs, Ceramics, 2024

Clouds, Ceramics, 2024

Portrait, Ceramics, 2024

Starry NIght, Ceramics, 2024

Sun Itself, Ceramics, 2024

Voluptas, Ceramics, 2024

Water Nymph, Ceramics, 2024

Boef, Ceramics, 2024

This vase was made as a present for dear friends of mine. There is a little portrait of them inside the heart, and the dog-shaped lid is a sculpture of Boef, their little dog.

Ceramic Lily, 2024

Gaia, 2022, © Jasper Zijlsta

This sculpture was inspired by Gaia, mother Earth, both a deity and the earth itself.

Ouranos and Gaia had twelve sons and six daughters. Ouranos was prophecised to be overthrown by one of his children. So, he locked the eldest of these - the giant Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires - away inside the belly of the Earth (Gaia). Gaia suffered immense pain and persuaded her Titan sons to rebel.

The image of Gaia with these giant monsters inside her belly, spoke to me. It seems that mother Earth just has to endure the violence, bloodshed and destruction that is caused by the ego of others.