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© Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
© Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
© Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
© Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
© Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019

Gunilla Maria Åkesson

Gunilla Maria Åkesson Ceramicist
Contact
Swedish, English
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+46 734157118
© Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019

The material of meditation

  • • Gunilla finds clay helps her get in touch with her emotions
  • • She was shortlisted for the Loewe Craft Prize Award in 2018
  • • It can take her weeks to finish one single object

Gunilla Maria Åkesson is pretty sure that clay chose her, not vice versa. She liked clay, and somehow she felt she needed that material. “I started quite young; I knew early on that I wanted to express myself through art, although not necessarily ceramics,” she says. “Weaving was the main craft in my home when I grew up.” At 18 she had a practice period with ceramics at school, and that triggered off her passion. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway, and worked as an assistant for Ulla Viotti, a well known Swedish ceramist. Since then her works have been exhibited internationally, and she is represented by different art museums and collections in Norway and Sweden.

Read the full interview

Works

  • © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
  • © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
  • © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
  • © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
  • © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
Photo: © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
Vessel No. 1

This is the first successful piece made when Gunilla applied several layers of glaze before firing. She explained that at first it came out looking terrible. After applying more white glaze, she fired it a second time, and this was the result. Gunilla tried to make more like it but did not succeed, realising that all her vessels were going to be unique.

Height 26 cm
Diameter 23 cm

Photo: © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
Vessel No. 5

This hand-crafted stoneware vessel was one of Gunilla’s experiments using several glazes before firing. This came out of the kiln after just one attempt, unlike other pieces that have required re-glazing and re-firing. Gunilla has tried to make similar pieces but has not been successful, so far.

Height 26 cm
Diameter 27 cm

Photo: © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
Vessel No. 21

This is vessel is the last of Gunilla’s 2018 series in which she applied several layers of glaze before firing. By this time, she had accepted that it was impossible to expect the same result twice. She considers this piece to be the most successful, concluding that it is because she did not try to control the outcome but poured on the glazes and hoped for the best.

Height 25 cm
Diameter 22 cm

Photo: © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
Vessel No. 38

In 2019 Gunilla started to use black stoneware and added slip between the layers of glaze. This technique, building up six to eight layers altogether, lends a new surface texture to her vessels.

Height 26 cm
Diameter 28 cm

Photo: © Gunilla Maria Åkesson / BUS 2019
Vessel No. 39

Six or seven layers of glaze alternating with slip were used to decorate the surface of this hand-crafted vessel. To achieve the crater-like effect, the piece was fired twice.

Height 25 cm
Diameter 22 cm

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