Material Statements - Nina Malterud

Nina Malterud is one of Norway's most prominent ceramics artists. Over the course of her five-decade-long career, she has developed a unique artistic oeuvre with references to traditional ceramic objects like plates, bowls, and tiles, but the emphasis is more on expression than on function. She explores the possibilities of clay and glazes in a free and undogmatic way, and is open to the visual results that can arise through controlled coincidences. The traces of the process are an essential part of her visual language. Sometimes the motifs are recognizable, but for the most part, she works with abstraction. The pieces radiate both tenderness and fragility, strength, and power. Combined with the materiality and weight of ceramics, the results are artworks with a strong sensory appeal.