MARIE EKLUND

Marie Eklund is a Swedish artisan who handcrafts principally from wood. Her practice is machine-free, working only with an axe and carving knife, led by intuition and surrender to the material’s natural treatment.

Symbiosis between element and material is integral to Eklund’s process. Leaving the wood in a fire, submerged in open water or dug into the ground reveals blemishes, scars and shifting textures as part of her work’s authentic expression, a poetic context permeating the sleek carving. Eklund finds delight in the irrevocable temperament of wood as her medium, yielding control of her outcomes, instead working alongside natural material as a collaborator.

For Collection #20, Ark Kollekt presents three hand-carved Swedish birch spoons by Eklund, crafted from wood local to her rural home of Tångeråsa.

Portrait courtesy of Radnor Gallery