Jane Holmberg and Kerstin Sarvimäki at Kaolin, Stockholm

Jane Holmberg: Transitions is on view at Kaolin, Stockholm

Exhibition dates: October 3-21, 2020

Jane Holmberg graduated from the program of ceramics and glass in 2001 at the Design School in Kolding, Denmark. Since then she has been creating everyday use objects following the tradition of Danish ceramic design where the material and a minimalist expression has always been the focal point. After years of working with porcelain, Jane threw herself into earthenware and the possibilities that the material hold in it.

For the last five years Jane has been working with unique objects in a color palette that she has created by using white, red and black clay. The different shades meet and mix on the pottery wheel and create an eternally changing expression of chaotic marbled patterns. At the same time, the color patterns are maintained in a tight design; the controlled in interaction with the uncontrolled. Other times, Jane keeps the color and design in a perfectly tight line; with neatly controlled rings in shades that transition from light to dark or vice versa. All of Jane Holmberg’s works are raw and unglazed – one might be tempted to call her work dogmatic; three types of clay, a pottery wheel and her hands.

“The jar is one of the focal points of my work. It is a fundamental element of traditional pottery making and it interests me to work with recognizable objects in new ways. I combine my interest in classical craftsmanship with inspirations from nature: the sun and shades in the sky, cut tree trunks with annual rings that tells the story about a lived life… a raw and beautiful cut that helps to form a framework for my works. In the meeting between jar and stem, the closed form has emerged. Here, the surfaces of the clay and its gradient shades have become my focus. The closed form does not dictate a specific function, but merely form and presence.”

Jane Holmberg

Kerstin Sarvimäki: Buildings and dwellings at Kaolin, Stockholm

Exhibition dates: September 12-30, 2020 (now closed)

Houses and dwellings. That’s what this exhibition is about and yet not.

The basics in houses and buildings interests and influences Kerstin Sarvimäki a lot and makes her return to these forms. For her, it is not always about the houses themselves but about forms she finds appealing, about houses as symbols and sometimes as fragments from her dreams. In her ceramic buildings, she welcomes the viewer to weave in her own associations and thus lets her houses speak for themselves.

“I am not in the position that I will build my own house, so my ceramic houses are for me a really wonderful way to channel that desire. Then it may happen that the houses also express something else. The viewer must decide for himself.”

Kerstin Sarvimäki

With an education at HDK and as one of the founders of Sintra in Gothenburg, Kerstin has a long background as a ceramicist. She works with both everyday use objects in porcelain and hand built forms, often in unglazed black stoneware with colored slips. Her works are represented at the Röhsska Museum and Alingsås Museum, among others. Kerstin lives in Gothenburg and has her workshop in the studio area Konstepedemin.

Contact
info@kaolin.se

Address
Hornsgatan 50
118 21 Stockholm
Sweden

Photos by Caroline Södergren