Iceland review - 2016, Page 66

64 ICELAND REVIEW
COMMUNITY
SIGRÍÐUR ERLA
GUÐMUNDSDÓTTIR -
CERAMICIST - LEIR 7
Sigríður, ceramicist and
owner of Leir 7 Gallery,
moved to Stykkishólmur from
Hafnarfjörður in 2007 to be
“closer to the clay,” as she puts
it. A potter for 25 years and
former teacher—she taught at
the Iceland Academy of the
Arts and The Reykjavík School
of Visual Arts—Sigríður runs
the only ceramics workshop
in Iceland that uses Icelandic
clay. She sources the raw
material from the farm Ytri-
Fagridalur in the Dalir region
of West Iceland—which is
still a 130-kilometer (80-mile)
drive away. Icelandic clay var-
ies quite a bit on a dark red-
brown scale due to high levels
of iron. Sigríður fires the clay,
which is low-fire, at 1150°C
(2100°F), at which tempera-
ture the ceramic reaches its
maximum strength. Icelandic
clay can also be used as a glaze
on high-fire clay. Sigríður also
produces items from French
porcelain and clay from the
UK, with Icelandic glaze and
fired at 1240°C, which gives
it a dark brown color and soft
texture. “I love the dark color
of Icelandic clay but I also
enjoy working with porcelain.
It’s like cream,” she says. She
also adds splashes of color to
some of her items by placing
black pebbles she collects from
the local Djúpalónssandur
beach on them before they go
in the kiln. The pebbles melt,
creating spots of metallic fin-
ish on the wares.
Sigríður’s primary technique
is slip casting using plaster
molds. She speaks of her craft
with a deep passion. “It’s like
working in collaboration with
the clay, I let it decide.”
Leir 7 is part of the Éco-
no musée network, a group of
workshops in northern Europe
which are open to the gen-
eral public, allowing artisans
to share their knowledge and
passion while selling products
made on the premises. The
gallery is open from 2-5 pm
Mondays to Fridays and from
2-4 pm on Saturdays. Sigríður
also receives groups on organ-
ized tours, whom she wel-
comes with a tasting of her
favorite snack—local buttered
dried fish with sugar kelp and
dulse—as well as local blue
mussels and seaweed, present-
ed on her ceramic fish-shaped
plates.
Her work, which includes
both practical pieces—like
plates, cups, bowls and sushi
sets—and works of art—like
ceramic cod heads (pictured
right)—is sold exclusively
at her gallery. “I wanted to
have it really local and decid-
ed from the beginning to try
and just sell it here. I didn’t
want to stock my work all
over the place,” she says. The
local municipal office and sev-
eral local businesses have sup-
ported the gallery by ordering
items for use by their staff or
customers. There has also been
interest from abroad: when we
visit Leir 7, she’s working on
an order of custom-made piec-
es for the owner of an overseas
hotel who recently visited the
gallery.
The art of ceramics has a
short history in Iceland. In
1930, Guðmundur Einarsson,
artist and father of interna-
tionally-acclaimed artist Erró,
began using clay in his work.
No earlier evidence of clay
use exists, which Sigríður finds
interesting given the long his-
tory of ceramics in general.
Foreign visitors find this fas-
cinating, she says. “A German
tourist once asked me: ‘How
did you eat before?’ [in ref-
erence to dishes and cutlery].
Ceramic art has been part of
other cultures for so long but
it came very late to Iceland.”
Besides reaching tourists,
Sigríður also hopes to help
educate Icelanders about
ceramics. “I also want to bring
awareness here. Some people
come here and say ‘Wow, I
didn’t know it was so difficult
to make a cup!’”
Before relocating to the
town, Sigríður had been a
regular visitor ever since
she bought an island in
Breiðafjörður 25 years ago.
“We go there a lot in the
summer now,” she tells me.
Although she knows the area
well, she says it’s refreshing
to not have any family con-
nections. “People found it
strange that I moved here,
that I had no family here, no
connections, to start a com-
pany. But I think if my family
was from here, if I had grown
up here, I would have long
since moved away! I like the
freedom. There is no politics,
I don’t know the history, I’m
not bound by anything, it’s
great.”
Ceramics by Sigríður featuring
eider duck designs.