Barbro Åberg Studio News

Feature by Maison Gerard, September 2023 A Look Inside the Studio and Garden of Barbro Åberg Since the early 1990s, Barbro Åberg has been working steadily at home in Denmark to perfect an aesthetic that, more than three decades on, is immediately recognizable the world-over as her own. Her remarkable, almost surreal works are rendered in monochrome and are inspired by fossils, vessels, old bones, and coral. She plays on traditional Danish forms, morphing them into something purely sculptural, playful, and decidedly non-utilitarian. Her characteristic use of perlite—a volcanic substance Åberg adds to her clay—endows her pieces with both a rough geologic texture and a refined elegance of form. The sculptures are full of light, negative space, and a uniquely tensile strength. A look through these images of Barbro's charming garden and studio serves not merely as window into her history and process—her deliberate, meticulous, and ingenious means of creation—but as a taste of the spirit that underlies them and is evident in each of her perlite-infused sculptures. Her garden and studio are one, an oasis where smell of clay mingles with a late-afternoon lunch, and the creative impulse merges, and is indistinguishable from, the seasons, the flora, and the culture of her homeland. Åberg's pieces are held in the public collections of the Höganäs Art Museum, Sweden; the Musée de Carouge, Switzerland; The Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Japan; The New Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark; The Danish Arts Foundation, Denmark; The Museum of International Ceramic Art, Denmark; The Danish Museum of Art and Design, Denmark; and in the National Public Art Council, Sweden. Behind the Scenes on Maison Gerard website (with all images) Visit Maison Gerard's website Photo credits: Yi-cheng Liu

Honorary Reward 2023 I am very happy to announce that in May 2023 I received an Honorary Reward for my ceramic ouvre by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Foundation.

New gallery in Denmark I am pleased to announce that my work is now represented at Galleri ARTC in Haderslev, Denmark. ARTC website Galleri ARTC Torvet 2 Haderslev

New catalogue A bilingual catalogue, Barbro Åberg - Sculptures from Inner Space/ Sculptures de l´espace intérieur, accompanies my first solo exhibition at Galerie de l´Ancienne Poste in Toucy, France. Essay and interview by Garth Johnson, Curator of Ceramics, Paul Philips & Sharon Sullivan Center, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York. Order the catalogue from the gallery. Special thanks to Ellen and Knud Dalhoff Larsen‘s Foundation and Grosserer L.F. Fogh‘s Foundation for their kind support

The Winter Show My work is represented by Maison Gerard at The Winter Show 2022. The Winter Show

New museum acquisition I am happy to announce that Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, has decided to acquire my ceramic sculpture More Secrets. Everson Museum of Art, ceramics collection

Honorary Reward In 2018 I received Ole Haslunds Honorary Reward for my ceramic oevre. Legatmotivering: "Det er svært at sætte etiket på Barbro Åbergs imponerende oeuvre. Den svenskfødte, herboende keramiker er med sit betagende formsprog og materialeudtryk i den grad sig selv. Måske er det tilknytningen til naturen, hinsides ethvert modelune? Måske fordi hun rammer noget urmenneskeligt? Sikkert er det, at Barbro Åbergs keramiske værker befinder sig langt fra traditionerne i både Sverige, Danmark og USA, som ellers alle har haft betydning for hendes udvikling som kunstner. Barbro Åberg er en af de store studiokeramikere med talrige priser og udstillinger bag sig. I perioden 1979-82 i postmodernismens blomstringstid studerede Barbro Åberg stentøjet på Clackamas Community College i Oregon, USA. Men det var først efter uddannelsen på Kunsthåndværkerskolen i Kolding med afgang i 1988, at hun udviklede sin egen stil. Siden 1990’erne har Barbro Åberg blandet sin stentøjsmasse op med pibeler og det vulkanske materiale perlit samt paper-clay. Resultatet er en grov og spændstig lertype, ideel til skulpturel formgivning. Dette lava-agtige materiale understreger på smukkeste vis hendes idéverden og udtryk. Da Barbro Åberg i 1999 får eget værksted i Århus, opstår en mærkbar forandring i formsproget, og skulpturerne fremstår nu lysere og med mere åbne strukturer. Modsat den mere abstrakte, danske studiokeramik fremstår Barbro Åbergs værker kommenterende og historisk omfavnende. Hun henter sin inspiration i hjulet, skålen, kuglen, skibet, huset og det store landskab, arketypiske metaforer, som løfter hendes på en gang yndefulde og monumentale objekter ud af den konkrete verden. Det er i den evige vekslen mellem det håndgribelige og det metafysiske, at vi møder det sublime i Barbro Åbergs kunst. I anerkendelse af et stort, kunstnerisk oeuvre og en unik fortolkning af den keramiske skulptur modtager Barbro Åberg Ole Haslunds Hæderslegat 2018."

Article in KLEI There's an article in ceramic magazine KLEI no. 1 2021 by Barbara Bunskoek: "Barbro Åberg Denkbeeldige koffer vol inspiratie" Cover + p. 4-8 KLEI article

SRING PRIZE The SpringFestival 2021 For the sixth time in a row, I've been asked to deliver the prize for The Spring Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark - a biannual Children´s Theatre Festival. The prize will be given to a person, a theatre, an institution or initiativ who has renewed Danish children´s theater. Spring Festival 2021

Article in CA&P There's an article about my work in issue 102 of Ceramics Art & Perception p. 3-7: "The Skeleton of Existence - Barbro Åberg´s Ceramic Oevre" by art historian Louise Mazanti.

Book about glazes My work is represented on page 53 in this excellent book: Ceramic Glaze - The Complete Handbook by Brian Taylor and Kate Doody, published by Thames & Hudson Link to Thames & Hudson

New Booklet Iben Vest has designed a new booklet for me. Art historian Louise Mazanti wrote the text about my work: "The Skeleton of Existence". Browse the Booklet

SCULPTURE AQUIRED BY MUSÉE DE CAROUGE Double Organic Wheel was purchased by the museum during Parcours Céramique Carougeois 2013 Musée de Carouge

PRIX DE PUBLIQUE 13e édition du Parcours Céramique Carougeois 28th of September to 6th of October 2013 Prix du Public was given to Barbro Åberg for best solo exhibition at Galerie Tiramisù. 13e édition du Parcours Céramique Carougeois