Gunilla Maria Åkesson creates unique objects in clay inspired by the connection between human touch and human emotion: each piece is hand built in a process that she experiences as a form of daily meditation.
Gunilla graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway, and began her career as assistant to respected Swedish ceramist Ulla Viotti. She was shortlisted for the Loewe Craft Prize in 2018, and her works are held in art museum collections in both Norway and Sweden.
“My inspiration comes forth during the creative process, where impulses and ideas develop gradually when I work with the object. During the time it takes for my work to develop I start to see the potential in it. Its potential often appears as a feeling, the intuitive feeling when I know whether I am on track or not. Here, my curiosity and inspiration awakens because I find something in the form that I want to make clear.
It has a story to tell.
My way of using clay means that I often work with the same basic shape, but it always takes various forms. I am a certified Rosen therapist and this method has many similarities to my way of working in clay, in how we approach the unknown and find the needed information”.