Wheel-thrown Vessel, 2024. Wood-fired ceramics (38x28cm)

This wheel-thrown vessel is a convergence of artistry and nature, decorated with raw materials of the earth and shaped into a traditional form.

I adorned the vessel with materials gathered from experiences I lived through and places I have been: Puumala, Mallusjoki, Puolanka, and San Sebastian in Northern Spain. Each element in the vessel carries its own story and significance.

From my previous anagama kiln wood firing in Mallusjoki, I collected wadding pieces and recycled them into the decoration slip of the pot.

In the glazes crafted for this artwork, I mixed wild clays from Puolanka and Puumala, granite dust from Mallusjoki gifted by a fellow ceramicist, and sand from La-Concha beach in San Sebastian. The glazes are also enriched with ashes from different places and memories. Cherry trees and homegrown vine ashes come from my garden in Puumala. From my residency in San Sebastian in 2023, I collected ashes from the stove used to warm my studio. I used beech and kiwi branches as firewood.

I wheel-threw the pot in my studio in Puumala and fired it in Korpikoski near Mikkeli with fellow ceramicists. The vessel was wood-fired for 24 hours in a bourry box kiln, resulting in natural ash deposits on its surface.

The vessel is infused with these places and moments. Each component is a relic of a specific moment, place, feeling, and relationship – a testament to the journey navigated at life’s crossroads in the North.