Fields – Ceramics, flowers, textile
Group exhibition
Entrance floor, Färgfabriken
Fields is the result of a meeting between the textile artist Miriam Parkman, potter Stefan Andersson, and floral artist Sofia Wikander. Using colourful fabrics, wood-fired pottery, and freshly harvested late summer flowers, their artistic expressions merge into a new installation.
Craftspeople from different fields have a long tradition of close contact and co-operation. Stefan Andersson and Miriam Parkman had been inspired by each other’s work for a long time. But they wanted more, to find a form for a common expression. At their meeting with Sofia Wikander, all the pieces fell into place.
The three artists found a way to move beyond simply inspiring each other; to relate in a deeper meaning and create something together. The process has involved concepts such as texture, choice of colour and shape. Nothing in the installation has been done separately, everything is interconnected. The newly produced work contains various kinds of pottery (vases, bottles, bowls), as well as a variety of textile expressions. The expected late summer flowers include dahlias, cosmos flowers, asters, snapdragons and ornamental carrots.
The title Fields represents the earth which unites the practice of the three artists. The fields (the soil) is where the clay is taken to the potter, the flowers grow and the materials for textiles are provided, such as linen and cotton. It’s a matter of slow creation and growing, where the interaction with the unpredictable is an inevitable part of the process. The varying temperature inside the potter’s kiln, changes in the weather over the flower meadows, as well as the colours and shapes of the fabric that gradually emerge, and whose final results can’t be seen until everything is ready.
In this way, the artist’s work invites a sense of humility towards life in itself, an unpredictable process in which time must take its course to finally yield beauty and sustainable works.
Fields lasts only four days, as long as the flowers bloom. Hopefully this will be the first of a series of exhibitions which reflect the change of seasons and which will take place when it’s time to harvest.
About the artists
Potter Stefan Andersson (born 1979) is based in Alvik in the Swedish region Dalarna and has a degree from the HDK-Valand at the University of Gothenburg. His wood-fired utensils can be found in restaurants and with collectors all around the world. In recent years, he’s made pottery for Björn Frantzén’s restaurants in Stockholm and Singapore. In his work, he likes to interact with the process and let unpredictable traces become part of the decoration and “the soul” of things, like a fingerprint or pattern from the fire. Stefan Andersson has received the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s work scholarship several times and is considered one of Sweden’s foremost potters. In 2019, his book Making Pots (Krukmakeriet) was published by Natur & Kultur.
www.ceramics.se
Textile artist Miriam Parkman (born 1990) was educated at Friends Of Handicraft from 2013 to 2016 and works in Stockholm. As a member of the weaving group Studio Supersju, she’s participated in several exhibitions around the country and produced public works of art. Her expressive weaves combine a 1950s-esque aesthetic with topical subjects and dreams. In 2021, she was awarded the City of Stockholm’s cultural scholarship, as well as a working grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Her collection for the clothing brand Indigofera has garnered international attention. Together with Arianna Funk, she’s written the book To Weave – The Swedish Way: New Techniques and Modern Projects, published by Natur & Kultur in 2020.
www.miriamparkmantextiles.com
Sofia Wikander (born 1982) is a grower of cut flowers and floral artist who preserves the craft by cultivating floral arrangements and choosing beautiful accessories to go with the flowers. Wikander works in Gillmyra, just outside Stockholm, where she grows her flowers and makes floral arrangements and artistic creations with flowers grown in the open. As an active representative of the Slow Flower movement, she applies the approach of sustainable cultivation, which means that the flowers can grow at their own pace during the right season. She was involved in starting a Swedish association called Snittblomsodlare (which translates as ‘growers of cut flowers’), and has recently started a new training programme, Blomsterodlarna (which translates as Floriculturists), within it.
www.gillmyrablomster.se
