Blue Letters, Tulla Elieson
This ceramic piece by Tulla Elieson (1950-2023) was shown in her last solo exhibition at Galleri Semmingsen in 2017. The work of art is made from a single piece of glazed and high-fired porcelain clay and measures 110 x 112 centimeters. Since 2001, Elieson had her studio in the factory Norsk Teknisk Porselen in Fredrikstad, Norway. This enabled her to create such monumental porcelain planes in one piece.
Blue Letters is a good example of Elieson’s experimental use of powders and clays on top of glazed surfaces. The porcelain plane is glazed with a semi-matte dark grey glaze. On top of the glaze, there are decorative masses resembling letters or grains of sand, composed of matte powdered glaze materials or clays in various shades of gray and blue.
I conserved this work of art for a private owner in 2023 on behalf of sculpture conservator Joanna Hench. The lower part of the work had fractured into twelve separate fragments in various sizes. Furthermore, there was a continuous vertical crack slightly to the left of the center and small material losses along the fracture edges.
The pieces were glued back together with a conservation grade epoxy glue and losses were compensated with an epoxy filler and retouched. On the back, the joints were reinforced with a sturdy jute fabric for extra support.
After treatment
