STEINUNN BJARNADOTTIR
Bergmál : Echo
Living in Iceland, an island beautifully diverse and complex, full of geological forces, with frequent and dramatic weather changes, inevitably forces you to connect with the ground you live on and the inherent dangers that it possesses.
Inspired by the landscape and the cracks, stresses and ruptures that emerge there, my ceramic work explores and embodies the tensity of the earth.
Materials are gathered from diverse Icelandic locations. Clay from mountains, valleys and geothermal areas, stones and sand from black beaches and igneous rock from volcanos. These materials are mixed with commercial ceramic materials to create structured forms. Only after firing does the true personality of the found material reveal itself,with sand melting, stones expanding, clay melting and shrinking, all contrasting with the commercial materials. The manmade and the natural materials in tension.
This work is created in a time of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
BIOGRAPHY
Steinunn Bjarnadottir isa native of Hafnafjordur, Iceland. She has always been creative and used diverse mediums in her creations. In 2014 she completed a diploma in design from the Technical Collage of Reykjavik. In 2018 she studied and graduated with a B.Ed. from the University of Iceland, specialising in art. In her final year she fell in love with ceramics after attending an evening course in throwing. She went on to study ceramics at the ReykjavÃk School of Visual Arts,graduating with a diploma in 2020.
She is currently studying Ceramic Design at Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD)
While the methods she uses may be diverse, all Steinunn’s work contain a connection to her home country, to Iceland and it’s nature.
Steinunn has worked as a teacher, carer for the elderly and receptionist during her studies. Her aim is to become a ceramic artist and ceramic teacher based in Iceland.