Kennet Williamsson
Kennet Williamsson is one of Sweden’s most well-known ceramicists. Living on the edge of a forest in the Närke region of South-Central Sweden, he creates oversized ceramic sculptures and monumental public art as well as delicate utility objects. In recent years he has become a beloved ceramics teacher, welcoming small groups privately in his home. Kennet has exhibited extensively in Sweden and internationally and in 2006 he was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal for outstanding artistic achievement by the King of Sweden.
Words by Kennet Williamsson
Photography by Justine Robineau
Film by Michaël Diot
Excerpts from Issue 10 of Faire
“I live way out in the countryside, in the forest. I like to live among the trees. The social aspect of being in society as an artist doesn’t interest me that much. I like to step away from that and stay separate in the forest.”
“Here in Sweden, I invite people to come and make pottery with me at my home. I am trying to recreate this idea that we are all together here in this life. We work and survive. We create meals for each other, and we are together.”
“The key to keeping my creativity for such a long time – for 60 years or whatever it is – is that I’m really taken by beauty. It’s just the joy of being in the physical world, the beauty of trees, the beauty of flowers, the beauty of people, the beauty of animals. ”
“Recently I’ve been thinking about how creativity is connected to being unhappy and this immense weight of being human. It might sound outlandish, but I think creativity saves me from going crazy.”
“The famous cello player Pablo Casals was asked why, at the age of 93, he was still practising. He replied, ‘I’m still making progress.’”
“The beauty of flowers is as powerful as the pleasure of touching another human’s body, another who has lived and experienced this world with all the pain that it contains. Pain is also the beauty of this world.”
“I try to tell anyone who will listen that there’s no difference between the artistic quality of something that has a practical function and something that we normally think of as an art piece as long as there is an artistic ambition. ”
You can find more information on filmmaker Michaël Diot @micha.diot or on his website.
