My idea with the exhibition about the Gesällbrev at Formargruppen was partly to tell about the process and history of the craft exams, and to show the pieces I made during the exam day. Since the exam is a very practical one, it was a challenge to find a good way to build the exhibition in an educational way, but I hope I succeeded.
The exhibition featured the various models I threw in both their finished, glazed form and their freshly turned form, as they look when I take them off the wheel. The tables also contained the drawings of the models, and on the walls were pictures that photographer Jonas Gratzer took of me for the article in the magazine Hemslöjden, showing my hands in the clay.
I also wanted to share a little peek behind the scenes in the workshop. I took my wheel and placed it in one of the shop windows, where I threw some of the things for the exhibition. Then I left the wheel as it was in the window, as if I had just gone to get coffee. Muddy tools, drawings and freshly thrown mugs and bowls still sitting on the wheel...
Since I wasn't on location for a large part of the exhibition period, it's of course difficult to know exactly how everything was received, but what I've heard has only been positive - and that makes me so happy! It's always difficult to know what level to set the presentation so that it's not just something for those who already know the craft, but I hope I managed to reach everyone. Now the exhibition has been taken down, and the diploma is back at my house!
