Dieter (Bernd-Dietrich) Stolte was born in Cologne in 1954. From 1977 to 1979 he studied at the Werkkunstschule Flensburg and then from 1979 to 1984 sculpture at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts in Kiel under Jan Koblasa and Manfred Sihle-Wissel. In 1987 he received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture for the Künstlerhaus Selk. From 1989-1990 he taught in the design department at the Kiel University of Applied Sciences and from 1991-2010 at the Muthesius University in Kiel. He has exhibited regularly in solo and group exhibitions in Schleswig-Holstein since 1981. In 2002, he co-founded the studio community neunziggrad-kiel in Kiel. Dieter Stolte lived and worked in Kiel, where he died on 18 September 2021.

More about Dieter

Not far from the former location of the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design is a two-part sculpture in the Ratsdienergarten, which is part of Kiel sculptor Dieter Stolte's final year project. At the end of his studies in 1984, the artist explored the theme of approximation in several variations and searched for abstract forms of representation in different materials. One part of the sculpture rises vertically five metres into the air with only slightly curved steel struts pointing upwards. The second part lies horizontally in the grass a short distance away. Its struts are clearly bent upwards and point in the direction of the upright element. This creates the impression that one part is moving towards the other. The materials are elaborately and individually worked. In this way, the artist manages to depict the theme of time in a static sculpture. Both the deliberately created impression of weathering and the apparent movement indicate a change that only takes place in the mind of the viewer. Another sculpture from the thesis, using different materials and a different artistic language, is on display in the Nortorf Sculpture Park.