“ Glass is incredibly joyful . It smells good , moves fast . You have to be a hundred percent present . I love everything that people find alarming about glass – its allure , shimmer , sparkle . There are endless possibilities . The only limit is your own time . I like color and I love working with color in glass .”
Frida Fjellman
Frida Fjellman is among the contemporary artists and designers who have contributed to the renewal of Swedish craft-driven art over the past decade . Her bold , colorful , sometimes radical style in glass , ceramics and other materials has celebrated triumphs in Sweden and internationally – especially in the US , where in recent years Fjellman has completed several prestigious public commissions for clients such as Art Basel .
Frida Fjellman was born and raised in Mariestad , in a family with a strong tradition in craftsmanship , and in which handicrafts in all materials were highly valued . Her mother and grandmother were weavers . Her father brought Frida to a ceramics course . “ We made everything ourselves that we could ,” she says . “ If you carved a knife , you used it , even if it was really bad .”
As Fjellman says , Mariestad was “ not a cultural town ,” but she consumed all of the art she could find while growing up . One of her teachers during her studies in the ceramics track at Hellidens Folk High School in Tidaholm was the great Rörstrand ceramic artist Inger Persson , who became Frida ’ s mentor .
“ She was wonderful , super tough , incredibly dedicated and great at seeing and encouraging all of her students ’ different talents . I learned so much – like casting , raku , wood-firing , throwing , making tile , underglazes , spray-painting ceramics . It was very joyful and experimental , but also incredibly meticulous , precise and aesthetically minded .”
Inger Persson encouraged Frida Fjellman to apply to the University of Arts , Crafts & amp ; Design in 1993 through a work sample of tile decorated with pink breasts . “ I learned most things from Inger . At the University of Arts , Crafts & amp ; Design , it was more of a struggle , a competition , not at all as kind , even though I did learn a lot there , too .”
After her studies , Frida began working in her own studio in Stockholm . She went to the US , where she took different classes at Pilchuck outside of Seattle , at Corning in upstate New York , and in Philadelphia . She found an outlet there for her desire to experiment in glass art , for example by working with neon and unconventional techniques . “ It was liberating to get away from the Swedish tradition and the prevalent norms of the time .” After graduating in 1998 and her excursions to the US and Japan , Frida Fjellman alternated between working on exhibitions and public art commissions . She was one of few artists in her generation who could survive on her art , but she had to work very hard , in a way that was unsustainable . Ultimately , she decided to focus on one last make-or-break exhibition .
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