Wild – Searching for Finnish high-fire clay by Mira Niittymäki

Abstract:

Artists and designers across the world are showing interest in local natural materials. Locality has become a big trend and a selling point in an ever-changing world where material flows are guided not only by international market forces but also by wars and pandemics. Regional raw materials that have been taken for granted are now seen as vivid options for industrially produced highly processed and homogenized substances. For me, the starting point for studying Finnish materials was the anxiety about not knowing the ecological and ethical origins of the ingredients that I used in my making. I decided to search for an answer to the questions: “Would it be possible to make a hand-building clay body from Finnish natural clays that could be high-fired in a reduction atmosphere? And how would this be made?”

My goal was to get acquainted with these “wild” clays and their different characters and properties. I was aiming to find a combination of different raw materials that can be fired above 1200°C in a wood fired kiln but also has enough plasticity as a clay body that it can be sculpted by using hand-building techniques. My intention is also to find a clay body that fits to my purposes and is relatively easy to work with but is as minimally processed as possible. The thesis has three distinct components: the empirical material research, the written part, and the artistic production of a set of hand-built ceramic sculptures.

In this thesis, I am also questioning: “What kind of effects does the collection and processing of the used material have on the artwork and the artistic process?” I am particularly inspecting what is the meaning and value of the clay material that I have collected myself. The answers are discovered through reflecting on my own practice and a literature review. Through this study, I gather information on how materials are interpreted, valued, and appreciated differently based on their origins. My main audiences for this thesis are Finnish ceramicists and designers, but the part of this study that refers to locality and appreciation of any material in use can appeal to an even wider audience.