The “Clay Works Ceramic Exhibition” currently on display at the Fo Guang Yuan FGY Art Gallery Christchurch often sees exhibiting artists, their families, friends, or students come to view the exhibition. One of the exhibiting artists, Frederika Ernsten, came to the exhibition on 9 November accompanied by her daughter and grandson.
Among the 21 exhibiting artists at the “Clay Works” exhibition, many are Frederika’s students. Frederika was delighted to see her students’ outstanding works also on display. As she admired the works, Frederika explained the styles, materials, color combinations, and the difficulties involved in their creation. She was pleased to see her students preserving the traditional ceramic-making style while also flexibly applying their creativity to produce innovative works. To encourage her grandson to appreciate ceramic art, Frederika purchased a piece by student Alyse Oliver as a gift for him.
As 12 November was Frederika’s 86th birthday, her students came to the Water Drop cafe today to celebrate with her. All attendees were exhibiting artists, including Alex Prentice, Donna Willocks, Chikako Neale, Monique Fleming and Nicky. Frederika’s students hold her in high esteem because she is generous in sharing her accumulated ceramic-making experience with them and is always patient and attentive in providing guidance, extending a helping hand when students encounter difficulties. What’s even more rare is that despite her advanced age, she continues to create ceramic works.
The FGY New Zealand curator, Venerable Abbess Manshin, specially wished Frederika a happy birthday and expressed appreciation for her works, as well as praise for her talented students’ works, which presented the gallery with high-quality and high-level exhibits. The director presented a gift on behalf of the gallery, which made Frederika very happy. She said she would treasure it and carry it with her at all times.
In 2018, Frederika exhibited at the FGY art gallery Christchurch with several Christchurch artists in the “Diverse Tranquility Art Exhibition,” and now she has once again formed a good connection with the gallery through the “Clay Works Exhibition.” Her four works on display in the exhibition have received much acclaim and were all purchased for collection on the opening day. Abbess encouraged Frederika to continue creating and hoped that she would have the opportunity to participate in the “Art Salon Exhibition” held annually at the FGY art gallery Auckland, where she could present her beautiful works to the public of the North Island of New Zealand together with hundreds of local artists, creating a beautiful pure land for the community through art.