KYLLIKKI SALMENHAARA 100
Ceramicist
Celebratory exhibition
28 November 2015–28 February 2016
Copper Smithy, Fiskars Village
Ceramicist Kyllikki Salmenhaara would have turned 100 years old this year. In honour of the occasion, an exhibition of her extensive oeuvre is organised in Fiskars Village, open to the public at the Copper Smithy from 28 November 2015 to 28 February 2016.
Kyllikki Salmenhaara was at the top of Finnish ceramic art. She belonged to a generation whose strong, distinctive work made Finnish design world famous in the international design exhibitions of the 1950s. The list of prizes she won in the Milan Triennials indicates the success she achieved while working at the Art Department of the Arabia company in 1947–1961: silver medal in 1951, honorary mention in 1954, Grand Prix in 1957 and gold medal in 1960.
After her period at the Art Department of Arabia, Salmenhaara was invited to start art education in modern ceramics in Taipei, Taiwan. In summer 1963 she was invited to take charge of ceramic art teaching at the Institute of Industrial Art in Helsinki, and in 1970 she was nominated Finland’s first artist professor in design.
The exhibition is a comprehensive overview of Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s oeuvre with items from the collections of the Design Museum, Collection Kakkonen and Aalto University. Works are also borrowed from private collections.
Design Museum
The objects lent to the exhibition by the Design Museum have been selected from an extensive collection of Kyllikki Salmenhaara, acquired into the museum’s collections in 1982, and from the material collected by the Arabia Museum. These materials together offer a rich image of Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s life’s work as a ceramicist. On display are objects from her period as a ceramic artist at Arabia and objects she created as an independent artist. The photographic material of the exhibition largely comes from Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s private archives that have been donated to the museum.
The Design Museum (established in 1873) is the national specialist museum of Finnish design. It researches, collects and documents design and presents design in exhibitions in Finland and internationally.
Collection Kakkonen
Kyösti Kakkonen, managing director and art collector, has collected Finnish ceramics and glass art determinedly for nearly thirty years. His large private collection currently includes works from all notable Finnish designers. Collection Kakkonen is one of the internationally most remarkable collections of art glass and ceramics. Works from the collection have been displayed in several exhibitions in Finland and abroad and they have been photographed for publications dealing with Finnish design.
Among international museums and collectors, Collection Kakkonen is known today as a reliable collaborator and one of the most interesting private collections of design in Finland.
Aalto University
Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s ceramic teaching was based on systematic empirical research on material. The experimental objects made during the research process constitute a library of ceramic material kept in the archives of the University of Industrial Art. A part of the library is still used as a collection of teaching material, catalogued and made available to researchers in the archives of Aalto University. These archives also hold Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s extensive correspondence and the objects collection she bequeathed to the university. Besides hundreds of student works, this collection includes thirty objects that represent Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s oeuvre from various periods.
Aalto University plans to organise a seminar on ceramics in Fiskars Village in January 2016.
Karin Widnäs Shop
Entrance to the exhibition is through Karin Widnäs Shop. Ceramicist Karin Widnäs, working in Fiskars Village, opens a shop with unique items from ceramicists who have all been Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s students: Nina Karpov, Åsa Hellman, Kristina Riska, Kati Tuominen-Niittylä, Anneli Sainio and Karin Widnäs herself. On sale are also Karin Widnäs’s ceramic utility items.
The Kyllikkki Salmenhaara 100 exhibition is open to the public from 28 November 2015 to 28 February 2016. The regular opening hours are Wed–Sun 12–5 p.m. Please find detailed information at www.fiskarsvillage.fi/en/home.
Exhibition team
The initiative to organise Kyllikki Salmenhaara’s centenary exhibition was taken by ceramicist Karin Widnäs and professor Tapio Yli-Viikari (Aalto University). The curators and designers of the exhibition are industrial designers Barbro Kulvik and Antti Siltavuori. The team also includes Kari Selkälä, head of business real estate at the Fiskars company, and Martina Lindberg as secretary.
Further information:
Industrial designer Antti Siltavuori, antti.siltavuori(at)archdesign.fi, 050 5695 111
Secretary Martina Lindberg, martina.lindberg(at)brev.fi, 050 5666 223
TouristInfo/Fiskars, fiskarsvillageinfo(at)fiskars.com, 019-2777 504
www.fiskarsvillage.fi