The series Penaten consists of twelve handmade lidded ceramic vessels. They are partly painted and feature sculpted or engraved facial features, in the style of the so-called Pomeranian face urns and urns of Etruscan or Roman origin. The Penates were the Roman gods of the hearth and the pantry, and were believed to watch over the family and the household. Their name is derived from the Latin word for pantry – penus.
Ceramics still have a somewhat ambivalent reputation in the context of art today, as they sit at the transition between the visual and applied arts. Kuschel’s Penaten – which are on the one hand figurative sculptures, but on the other potentially usable urns – explore this field of tension.