View Larger Image “Spiral Wheel,” 60 cm (24 in.) in diameter, ball clay with perlite and paper fibers, with white terra sigillata and stains, fired to 1135°C (2075°F) in an electric kiln.

November 12, 2007

Intuition, Impulse Combine to Create Works of Distinction

by Ulla Munck Jørgensen | Read Comments (0)

The distinctive works of Barbro Åberg are imbued with a life of their own. “A recurrent theme in my work is a kind of search for the universal,” says Åberg. “My work is not private. Of course I am an ingredient in the work. And the intensity of the work process is reflected in the work. If I wasn’t really present, you can tell by the finished work. Then, it’s of less consequence. A good piece has its own language, its own story. It’s alive somehow.”

THEMES
Åberg’s work has various references. One is ancient scripts. She models Phoenician or runic inscriptions in three dimensions and in the process transforms her content to a more abstract result that merely hints at its origins. The cells of life are another reference. A recent piece, “Black Egg,” is a large sculptural rendition of a group of cells. Maybe a piece of human tissue magnified under the microscope. Or the cells of a beehive or a cut-through mushroom.

WORKS IN PROGRESS
She works very intuitively. “I think ideas are born and then they develop,” she explains. “Time needs to pass before something appears. I follow my impulses. I trust them. An idea arises suddenly. Then I make a loose sketch or write down a few words to remember it.” Often her works end up quite different from how she first imagined. They change during the work process. She enters into collaboration with the work; into a kind of dialog. “I have to listen and look; it’s not just me making the decisions. Sometimes a piece is shouting at me to change it this way or that.”

PROCESSES
In 1990, she was introduced to a new claybody recipe by the American, Bob Shay, who gave a workshop at a Clay Today symposium at Hollufgård in Denmark. The clay was half ball clay, half perlite, a volcanic substance. The two together made an ideal material for sculpting.

“I felt a freedom with this new material,” Åberg said. “I could do all kinds of things that I couldn’t do with ordinary clay. Today she includes paper fibers in her clay and she has many customized recipes, some for large solid pieces, some for small works and some for pieces with an open structure. The surfaces are treated with a terra sigillata engobe, and occasionally the surfaces are scratched and marked with stamps. In her recent works, the surfaces are left unmarked allowing the form to stand out.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
To see more of Barbro Åberg’s work, visit www.barbroaberg.dk/.