Ceramic Art
Annika’s ceramic world
My clay practice is often intuitive but at the same time well-planned. My artwork embodies experiences, emotions and memories. Many times, these hybridized sculptures form the basis for larger works.
Alternating between different kinds of artistic commissions and projects is dynamic, which gives me renewed creativity and ideas, and vice versa – the desire is to experiment which leads to the finished result.
I am inspired by nature and experiment with imprints and castings creating reliefs. In the process, I distort, refine and assemble the clay. My ceramic art ranges from tiled stoves to tableware and a combination of the two which are the unique sculptural forms. My artwork is shown in exhibitions or are models that are later built in a larger scale.
”My ceramic art depicts softness and asymmetrical movement with budding contours and undulating lines to achieve organic harmony.”
Usually I combine strong colours with transparent, shiny glazes set in contrast to slips with matt surfaces. In the ongoing process, the choice of surface and glaze grows ever stronger — an intuitive interaction between eye and hand.
Others have a more lotus-shaped, tranquil and expanded floral globe that opens up to an airy and moving space. Others still are bestowed with more precise and pronounced simple but decorative patterns, framed with patience and a piercing look to the smallest detail.
This artistic awareness equally applies to the selection of glazes and colouring. Annika Svensson’s mastery of ceramic processing seems endless, regardless of whether the project relates to something as casual as flowers on a stem or a teapot. But even though these objects are subject to a mindful process and certainly offer opportunities for technical experimentation, the activities within the framework of this third area generally appear to be less intellectual and more straightforward — with one important exception.”
Excerpt from the book:
ANNIKA SVENSSON – Contemporary Sensitivities