Maja turns her passion into a career
Ceramic artist Maja Almqvist has long combined exhibitions and sales with teaching. In 2022, she also started Keramikstudion – which offers a variety of courses and free access to the open workshop for members.
“I thought that my future profession would be as a journalist or painter. But after one of my friends met a girl who was a ceramic artist, I found my true calling”, says Maja Almqvist.
First, she studied in a ceramics programme in Örebro for two years, followed by five years in design at Bath Spa University in England. After returning to Linköping in 2004, she started her life as a professional ceramic artist.
“The number of exhibitions increased, and I started selling my products. I have always been drawn to the ceramic arts, especially larger objects, for example, a dish with a diameter of 60 cm. The style is called sculptural/functional and is a bit wilder. Anything can happen, I'm not bound by convention, ha-ha”.
Since it is difficult to make a living as a ceramic artist, Maja jumped at an offer to combine art with a teaching position in Anders Ljungstedts upper secondary school's aesthetic program. In 2015, she switched to a position as a teacher/course director in ceramic design at the art school in Liljeholmen Folkhögskola.
“I have been creating my own art for years in my studio – first at ALKA (Linköping's artists’ association) and then in a space on Djurgårdsgatan. But since I think it's fun to try new things and put myself out there a little, I got the idea to arrange courses in ceramics. And it became a reality thanks to the City of Linköping when I received an artistic design assignment from them. Then I could afford to invest in more turntables, a kiln and other materials for the premises”.
Suddenly, Keramikstudion was born at the beginning of 2022. The studio offers try-out sessions, weekday courses (six sessions) and weekend courses, as well as memberships.
“The interest was so great that we had to move to a larger premises next door to make room. The courses quickly fill up and we quickly grew to 15 members. As a member, you can rent a workshop space monthly and get free access to a workspace, tools, glazes, kiln, etcetera”.
She speaks highly of the collaboration with Anna Bjurholm, who takes care of all the graphic design for signage, the website and offers a lot of encouragement during the journey.
“You can, for example, take a combo course, where you get to learn both techniques – turning and hand building. And we have introduced a new concept with turning and afternoon tea on Friday afternoons”, says Maja. “I love this, getting to work with my biggest passion in life, and I am happy that I had the courage to fully invest in ceramics”.