Nature. Traces & Reflections is an invitation to reflect upon the importance of nature as inspiration both in the past and in the present time. Back in the years of Skønvirke – the Danish Arts and Crafts movement around 1900 -, nature played an important role in the works of the masters, as seen in both Fanny Garde’s and Effie Hegermann-Lindencrone’s works. More than a hundred years later, nature represents, once again, a relevant presence within contemporary artists and craftspeople.

CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art invited three prominent ceramicists to interpret how do their practices respond to our present understanding of nature, and how they differ from the Danish design movement. Through their works, Malene Hartmann Rasmussen, Manuel Canu, and Marianne Nielsen dialogue with a selection of the Danish design movement’s works from the Museum’s collection, where different techniques and languages are incorporated into a scenario of renewal and tradition.

Manuel Canu

Manuel Canu has particularly been captured by Effie Hegermann-Lindencrone’s careful studies of seaweed. «Manuel sees the many drawings as a technical archive of forms, an alphabet, from which she has picked ideas for her final works. A method he has therefore copied by collecting seaweed on the beach and placing it in water to study its lines and movements.» CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art

Malene Hartmann Rasmussen

«Her experience of nature as a significant place full of stories, magic and spirit has followed her from her childhood landscapes surrounding the market town of Helsinge (…) Sources of inspiration include the Brother Grimm’s Fairy Tales, published 1812-1842, or In the Troll Wood illustrated by the Swedish artist John Albert Bauer (1882-1918).» CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art

Marianne Nielsen

«In her works, Marianne Nielsen tries to account for the flower as a concept. Her inspiration comes mostly from common flowers and plants from the Danish nature and the close surroundings. Quite often, it is humble plants, the weeds which are found even in the city centre.» CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art

Exhibition Details | Featured Artists: Fanny Garde and Effie Hegermann-Lindencrone (Skønvirke), Malene Hartmann Rasmussen, Manuel Canu and Marianne Nielsen | Curator: Christina Rauth Oxbøll | Museum Director Pia Wirnfeldt | Photography/Design: Sylvain Deleu and Claus | Location: MUSEUM OF CERAMIC ART DENMARK |Date: 26.09.2021 – 13.03.2022.