Heike Kirsch - Transforming Baltic Sea Stones One

Artist: Heike Kirsch, born 1966, from Hamburg, Germany
Artwork: Transforming Baltic Sea Stones One, 2/2026, acrylic on photo canvas
Dimensions: 70 x 70 x 2 cm
Signature: on the back, lower right, in pencil
Certificate of authenticity issued by the artist
Condition: very good
Shipping: canvas on stretcher as a package by UPS
Artist info: https://heike-kirsch.de/ueber-mich
Exhibitions: https://heike-kirsch.de/ausstellungen-messen

Text for the series "Transforming Baltic Sea Stones"
On the northern coast of the island of Fehmarn there is a beach section at the height of the Belt campsite, lined with large Baltic Sea stones. Walking is made difficult by the accumulation of numerous stones, and it is hard to focus on a single stone, as each is unique and beautiful. Many of them are black-and-white flint stones, dating between 60 and 70 million years old.
The transformation from a dead object into a living artwork occurs through charging with artistic energy and embedding in a new context, taking place on multiple levels over an extended period.
Lifting a stone and examining it closely—moving it, feeling it, listening to it, and smelling it—opens the process. The stone becomes an object of inquiry and a trigger for all sensory perceptions, triggering a range of emotions, thoughts, and actions. Sometimes it tempts one to throw it back into the Baltic with a dull thud, caused by its weight in the water, or it falls onto the other stones with a loud clack.
If a stone travels into the backpack, it becomes a maritime souvenir for the home, or a decorative gift for friends or family. For me, it becomes part of my studio and is repeatedly held in my hand, connecting me to that day by the sea and intensifying my longing for the sea as my place of well-being. Some of the stones also become motifs (Mixed Media) or components of a work (installation).
In my exhibition I AM. ON THE SHORE. in Wismar, I placed many Baltic stones in the center of the space together with my Baltic Sea photos on the floor. Thus they became an exhibit in a context that created a space for greater attention and perception.

Another level of transforming Baltic Sea stones is the very direct connection between a flint and my abstract painting, where the aim is to artistically process and reshape features such as structures, colors, surfaces, and scars, e.g., through fracture, turning the 3D object into a 2D artwork. In the flat plane—like in a landscape—this provides viewers with a new access to the uniqueness and beauty of the stone.