Artist’s Statement

My work circles around two of the basic human needs: eating and touching. I produce that, which in the museum you are never allowed to touch, making art accessible to people. In our fast food culture the use of disposable plates and cups has become very common, diminishing the value we give to our food. Therefore I feel the need to revive conscious eating by making lively tableware, ”Living Pots”, to enrich people’s every day life. In my eyes spontaneously thrown pots with a certain irregularity allow the user to engage in its life by using his imagination and his own creativity in how to use it. Furthermore through touching the object he can create a connection to the maker- from hand to hand. This way the energy and joy of the potter, which becomes visible in the finished product can radiate onto the user and his food in the simple act of feeding himself. It is essential to me that my pots are handled and used.

As a dancer I am influenced by my own experience in finding stillness and freedom in the movement. That is also the way I produce my work. The forms are inspired by sections of my life-energy drawings and nature contemplation. The surfaces refer to the earthy colours and texture of a tree bark that curls up in a playful way. Being trained as a production thrower, I felt the longing to go beyond the strict rules and find my own voice in shaping the clay in a freer and more unconventional way. Many times I had to push myself to find new solutions to the traditional forms that were stuck in my head and kept coming out of my body. I have developed the skill of throwing loose and relaxed, allowing movement and irregularity, and knowing when to stop to keep it fresh. That is how I give an animate spirit to the vessel. To bring about the qualities I strive for in the pieces I have found that Soda firing is the appropriate glazing technique. It emphasises the spontaneous aspect of my work and deepens the form.
Although I often feel my own limits in this laborious high temperature firing and it sometimes still irritates my rational mind, I have learned to appreciate the unpredictable aspect of vapour firing. I feel that a good result has both: an element of know-how and some mystery, making every firing different. Bearing this in mind every good piece is a unique gift.

I produce a series of tableware, every piece with its own gesture, thrown softly, spontaneously, finished with a warm orange soda glaze. While some of the pieces are obviously speaking about movement through their form, others do the same in a more subtle way.  This body of work is the result of my hands dancing with the clay on the wheel and the fire and soda meandering around the pieces in the kiln under my guidance. My work is about pots, not sculpture and finding the place inside myself, from which they will arise.