Saltholm Revisited, 2023 Ceramic Mixed Media Mindscape

Flying via Copenhagen Airport you will pass Saltholm, a small Islet 5 kilometers east of the coast. It is a protected nature reserve, a breeding ground for birds and summer grazing for livestock. On the one hand completely isolated from civilization. On the other, due to the strategic position, a small junction of cultural and military history.

Saltholm Revisited is inspired by the Danish animal and landscape painter Theodor Philipsen (1840-1920), and Saltholm - in April. It is an experiment on creating the notion of Saltholm, playing with landscape as a breeding ground for the more chaotic aspects of human nature.

Philipsen is considered the first Danish impressionist, famous for his interpretations of cows - painted in open air on site at Saltholm.  I came to the Islet in April – with no cow in sight (too early). In return the contrast between the industrial surroundings, the constant air and water traffic - and the raw nature was as loud as the thousand birds.  

I had expected a timeless experience but got exactly the opposite: Saltholm carries tons of traces of all times, the present included. And the tide brings in whatever the sea contains.
This was no getaway from modern society. But for a moment in time it - and I - was out of reach: Like in a protected breeding ground for the thought - with Philipsen's cows strangely present.  

Philipsen's real motive may have been the light. And for this exhibition I had skylights, which evoke especially deep and delicate nuances in the glaze.

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MATERIALS: Mixed media ceramics (of all sorts)

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Photo by Dorte Krogh

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Made for and exhibited at The Gallery, Farum Kulturhus, 2023. Kindly supported by Danmarks Nationalbank's Anniversary Foundation & Danish Arts Foundation

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