Birger E. Nilsson – Potter, artist and poet

Birger E. Nilsson was a multifaceted artist. He drew, painted in oil and watercolour, wove rag rugs, wrote poetry and made utilitarian ceramic objects and sculptural ceramics. This diverse body of work is united by a humble fascination with nature and its forms. He studied plants and trees and was a keen amateur botanist.

Birger is best known for his ceramics – utilitarian objects with simple forms that are made unique by the variations resulting from their ash glazes and the wood-fired kiln’s high temperature and reducing atmosphere. The straightforward aesthetic of these everyday goods and the often subtle but tangible glazing combine symbiotically to give them a distinctive look. To produce the glazes he was looking for, Birger used ash from a variety of ferns, plants, and tree species as well as clays and minerals he collected in various places around the country. He was powerfully influenced by Japanese ceramic arts, but his work also has a kinship with traditional Swedish ceramics.

Birger moved to Mölndal in the mid-1950s and began slowly to establish a place for himself in the Swedish crafts scene. He showed his work regularly, and among his more important exhibitions were two at the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg in 1968 and 1975. However, unlike many other artists of the time, he chose not to work as an industrial artist. He was proud of his craftsman expertise and referred to himself as a potter and artist rather than a ceramist or designer. Throughout his life, Birger wrote poetry – usually nature poems, but his writing also reflects interests in politics and existential questions.

With the reawakened interest in ceramic arts in recent years, the spotlight is once again on potters and artists like Birger. He lived a life that many today strive for – a simple existence rooted in craft and in harmony with nature. He took the same approach to ceramics that he did to life – he was driven by a reverence for naturae and simplicity.

All of the ceramics and sculptures on view are stoneware made by Birger E. Nilsson unless otherwise noted. The paintings by Birger E. Nilsson are oils, watercolours and gouaches.

The exhibition is curated and designed by Theo Ågren in collaboration with Hildegun Nilsson Varhelyi.