Kristina Riska

Kristina Riska (b. 1960, Finland) is one of Scandinavia’s foremost contemporary ceramic artists and a senior member of the Arabia Art Department Society in Helsinki. Riska has been exploring, defying, and redefining the traditional tenets of ceramic sculpture since the 1980s. Her unorthodox, large-scale works, inspired by nature and the properties of light and shadow, embody her rigorous and physical approach.

Riska begins the conceptualization of her works on paper, her designs ultimately coming to fruition spontaneously as she works. Her process is a foray into the unknown; with each unplanned, instinctive manipulation of the clay, she establishes a non-physical, internal space. She describes this space as a repository for qualities of quietude, serenity, and concentration. Her unique ceramic sculptures are astounding in their technical prowess; their impressive scale is matched with equal delicacy. The artist creates forms that seemingly defy gravity and the constraints of the ceramic process. Her craftsmanship is evident as well in the beauty of her glazes, given the limitations of firing such monumental objects in the kiln.

Riska’s 1986 exhibition at the Gallery Bronda included a series of vessels so large that even their installation proved difficult, impressing the State Art Collection, which purchased two works from the show; this began a career in which she has been well-recognized in her home country and abroad and has exhibited in many contexts and venues, including in 1991 in a joint exhibition with the architect Kimmo Friman. Riska’s curvaceous, imbricated, porous forms have been recognized with prestigious accolades including the State’s Suomi Prize in 1995 and a silver medal at the International Ceramic Contest in Mino, Japan in 2002.