Bente Skjøttgaard

Bente Skjøttgaard (b.1961) makes highly textured ceramic sculptures with an aura of equal parts toughness and her sense for an underlying poetic delicacy. He works are born from her empirical knowledge of clay, her love for this natural and unpredictable matter, her desire to always push technical experiments further and to bring ceramics to new horizons. She often takes her point of departure in nature’s principles and regularities of form. This results in strange inscrutable sculptural growths and large wild and amorphous nature abstractions that may be both lush and melancholic with an expression of beauty in both growth and decay. Skjøttgaard is constantly testing the performing abilities of the raw materials, the works relying on both her fresh sketchy approach to modelling in the wet clay and the unpredictability of her fringes with glazes at high temperatures. Out of her immediate control, the materials are left in the kiln to perform on the basis of her previous experiences and her infinite curiosity for new unexpected results. Skjøttgaard keeps adding new highly personal chapters to the infinite story that culture and nature share, whilst continuing her exploration of ceramic possibilities.