Collab: Niklas Dorsch, oil painter

Ceramics x Oil Painting!

I met Niklas when he asked if I had a phone charger he could borrow. When I went over to ask for it back because I was leaving the studio for the day, I saw what he was creating and it blew my mind. The piece he was working on that day involved a house, the outline of the house was depicted in wood pieces he custom sawed to attach to his hand-stretched canvas! How brilliant! We learned that we are both artists in residence at the studio. I really appreciate the colours he chooses and creates, subject matter, and especially levels of detail in telling a story through his dynamic oil paintings. I shared my perspective of how it would be great to be able to glaze confidently as a painter would paint lol And somehow the idea of oil painting a ceramic vessel came to be.

There are two projects we collaborated on:
1. oil painting a primed bisque fired ceramic moon jar with a relief carved leaf
2. incorporating several mini glazed vessel of various shapes into an oil painted wooden hand-built pottery shop. We decided to incorporate a “performative art” component by smashing one of my ceramic vessels to incorporate into the story happening in the basement of the pottery shop.

This was my first collaboration (his too!) and it was truly so much fun! I enjoyed each step of the creative process, and Niklas was just such a joy to create with!

Niklas Dorsch, “Cross Section”
Exhibiting at AlterWork Studios, LIC, NYC
November 2 - 14 2026
Opening Reception: Friday November 6 @ 6-8pm