Larvikite on stoneware & porcelain

My project has been an ongoing investigation of Larvikite gravel as surface decoration for everyday artifacts. Larvikite is a rare Pluton (monzonite) rock which is found in the counties of Vestfold and Telemark in southeast Norway. These rocks were formed about 290 million years ago and is there is a huge export trade in Norway of this mineral today. 

I have visited local quarries, taken out gravel which I sieved, and got a mixture of stones and pebbles, which I introduce to the clay surface. In work with local materials, you seek something only a particular place provides. Either it is Clay, wood, stone, mineral. In the past where it was our location and its geological diversity that played out the opportunities for materials for use in everyday life.

I find that by going out to a familiar location to retrieve this specific mineral gives me a new view on my surroundings, its history. Also as an artist from Larvik, a personal and natural step in preparing and making pots.
I find that the coarse and irregular is not as esteemed as a glazed clay body, and people have a different approach to the rough surface.

In my work I want to invite people to feel the mineral body, and discover the beauty of the local unpretentious raw material to the touch. In my work I look at the interpretation of the aesthetics in relation to function, and how to keep a good function whilst a rough surface.