Letting the process speak
- Hanna mostly works with groggy, fairly coarse stoneware
- She integrates nerikomi details in her sculptural ceramics
- Her pieces are inspired by the colours, shapes and textures in landscape
From her studio in east London, Hanna Salomonsson creates ceramic works with organic shapes, experimental glazes and occasional accents of gold leaf. “After attending an evening course in ceramics that my husband gifted me in 2017, I knew it was my material,” she says. Before then, Hanna had attended a foundational course in sculpture and trained in landscape architecture in Uppsala in Sweden and Leeds in the UK, where she worked in the profession for 13 years. She began sculpting in 2020 out of her makeshift balcony studio during the pandemic, and her work was discovered on Instagram. Hanna is inspired by her native Småland in southern Sweden, a region on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its verbal storytelling tradition. “The stories often include myths linked to the landscape, which I like to reflect in my works,” she says.
Interview
- How do you work with glazes?
- I work with a range of very temperamental glazes with a mind of their own. I never quite know what is going to come out of the kiln – it is a conscious choice. There is always an element of randomness in the way I apply glazes. I often fire and re-fire works.
- Is there a theme running through your work?
- I read a lot of poetry about landscape, so I often respond to that in my process. I start my piece with a vague idea, and gradually find elements that remind me of the landscape or my childhood. These sometimes take the work in a different direction.
- Do you give titles to your work?
- Yes, but I try not to say too much. I want my works to be open to people to apply their interpretations, associations and memories. Often, they pick up on details I have not seen, because there is that element of randomness in my pieces.
- Do you prefer making sculptural or functional pieces?
- Most of my work is sculptural, but each demands its own distinct mindset and approach. My functional work is commissioned – bowls, plates and sculptural tableware. I get to see how restaurants engage with presentation through food.
Hanna Salomonsson is a rising star: she began her career in 2020 and she started teaching in 2021
Where
Hanna Salomonsson
