Photo: Markus Li Stensrud
A painter among ceramicists, Marit Tingleff (Norwegian, b. 1954) is known for her gestural application of slips and oxides on monolithic coil-built clay slabs. Her works’ surfaces are marked by turbid, scrawled lines and streaking rivulets of slip. the results are roiling, epistolary abstractions embossed with blunt linear markings and dark, circuitous contours. These vessels bear the personal qualities of handwriting or sketch, while in their massive proportions they also mimic the slow kinetics of natural forces etching landscape. These alternations of dense rhythmic pattern and areas of muted erosion are intrinsic to Tingleff’s process; by applying manganese, cobalt, copper, and iron oxides over the earthenware clay body and selectively washing away sections, the artist leaves a ghostly imprint of her actions. As these traces accrete, they begin to stain the surface of the clay, creating an indeterminate yet complex visual inscription of her daily labor. Whereas Tingleff’s sculptural forms are substantial in scale and demonstrate a liberal handling of slip, they are rooted in the domestic and the traditions of fine porcelain crockery. Their edges retain the scalloped silhouettes and raised lips of dinnerware, producing a friction between delicacy and weight.
In Tingleff’s hands, the dish, which has so often served as a substrate for storytelling and iconography, is stripped down to its essentials as a kind of rough-hewn tablet. Her reserved color palette gives her work over to an abstract sensibility, whether in the sensation of color running over clay, streaked and spattered, or as a document of the prolonged action of making and unmaking. Process is recorded and preserved, mediating between order and entropy. Ultimately, Tingleff aims to enter into a dialogue with the material of each dish and vessel, remarking, “My painting process is a mixture of spontaneity and slow, patient building up of the surface.”
Tingleff is a ceramic artist based in Hønefoss, Norway. She studied at the National College of Art and Design in Bergen, later becoming a professor and head of ceramics at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts from 2013–2016. Her work is held by a number of museums including the National Museum in Oslo, the Designmuseum Danmark, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She has been awarded several public commissions including work for the Norwegian Government Representation Buildings in Oslo, Norway.
At the King's Table: From Tableware to Contemporary Ceramics at Dronning Sonja KunstStall's Ridehuset in Oslo, Norway, features artists Torbjørn Kvasbø, Irene Nordli, Paul Scott, and Marit Tingleff. The four artists have transformed classical forms into monumental installations and sculptures situated in the Royal Palace's converted stables. The exhibition, curated by Sandra Lorentzen and Kaja Hjort from the Norwegian Royal Collections, also features historic examples of porcelain dinnerware; the curators aim to question how objects, designers, factories, and countries have left their mark on the history and development of ceramics.
MARIT TINGLEFF
b. 1954, Norway
EDUCATION
1977
College of Art and Design, Bergen, Norway
SELECTED SOLO & SMALL GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
Into the Green, HB381, New York, NY
2023
Ornaments from Wetlands, Woods, Air, and Water, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
2022
Marit Tingleff: Ceramic Works, Landskrona Konsthall, Landskrona, Sweden
2021
Irdene Dinge (Earthen Things), Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany
Distorted Duets, La Fonderie Kugler, Geneva, Switzerland
2019–20
Forces: Dyrdal, Kvasbø, Tingleff, SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway; KODE Museums, Bergen, Norway
2019
Allusion to Peder Balke, Peder Balke Center, Kapp, Norway
2018
Forces de la Nature: Kari Dyrdal, Torbjørn Kvasbø, Marit Tingleff, Musée de Sévres, Paris, France
Marit Tingleff: New Ceramics, New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park, East Winterslow, UK
2014
Wall Objects, Galleri Format, Oslo, Norway
X-scapes: Marit Tingleff and Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl, Copenhagen Ceramics,Copenhagen, Denmark
2012
Arabia Museum, Helsinki, Finland
2011
Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
2009
Unforeseen Events: Alison Britton and Marit Tingleff, Marsden Woo Gallery, London, UK
2006
Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
2005
Marit Tingleff and Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
2004
Arnstedt & Kullgren, Östra Karup, Sweden
2003
Marit Tingleff and Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl, Galleri Nørby, Copenhagen, Denmark
Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
2002
Drammens Museum, Drammen, Norway
2000
Galleri F15, Moss, Norway
Lerverk, Gothenburg, Sweden
1999
Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
1998
Blås & Knåda, Stockholm, Sweden
1990
Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
1986
Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
At the King’s Table: From Tableware to Contemporary Ceramics, Dronning Sonja KunstStall, Oslo, Norway
Efterår / Autumn, Galleri Format, Oslo, Norway
2023
The Fabulous Fem [5], Taste Contemporary, Cromwell Place, London
2022
Painting in the Dark, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY
2021
Odd and Even: A Collection, Maison Louis Carré with Taste Contemporary, Maison Louis Carré, Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France
2018
Contained | Contenu, Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland
2016–17
Kneaded Knowledge: The Language of Ceramics, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria
National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
2016
Material Language: New Work in Clay, New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park, East Winterslow, UK
Undercurrents, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2015
Parcours Céramique Carougeois (Carouge Ceramic Trail), Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland
2013
Paradigm, Brussels, Belgium
2012
Paradigm, Galerie Collection, Paris, France
2011
Paradigm, Zagreb, Croatia; Sofia, Bulgaria
2010
Le Cru et le Cuit: Céramiques Norvégiennes Contemporaine (Raw and Fired: Contemporary Norwegian Ceramics), La Galerie Favardin & de Verneuil, Paris, France
2009
Painting on Ceramics, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany
2008
A World of Folk, Stavanger2008, Stavanger, Norway
2007
END, Bomuldsfabriken, Arendal, Norway
END, Danish Museum of Art & Design, Copenhagen, Denmark
Meister der Moderne, Munich, Germany
2006
European Ceramic Context, Bornholm, Denmark
2005
Perforation, NCC, Minneapolis, MN
Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY
2003
Burning Point, The West Norway Museum of Decorative Art, Bergen, Norway
Concentus, OICS, The Museum of Decorative Arts, Oslo, Norway
2000
Blue Millenium, Denmark Ceramics Museum, Middelfart, Denmark
Flyvende Tallerkener (Flying Saucers), Bomuldsfabriken, Arendal, Norway
1999
Norwegian Contemporary Ceramics, Ceramic Millenium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1998
Fletcher Challenge Ceramics Award, Australia
1997
Ceramic Expressionism, Museum of International Ceramic Art, Middelfart, Denmark
1996–97
Ceramics, Norwegian National Touring Exhibition
1994
In Touch, XVII Olympic Winter Games, Maihaugen, Norway
1993
Master Meeting, The Museum of Decorative Arts, Oslo, Norway
Workshop Ringebu, Lillehammer Art Museum, Lillehammer, Norway
1990
Contemporary Norwegian Ceramics, OICS, Oslo, Norway
NordForm90, Form/Design Center, Scandinavian Design Council, and the Swedish Society of Crafts & Design, Malmö, Sweden
1987–88
Scandinavian Craft Today, Japan / USA
1987
Tendenser (Trends), Galleri F15, Moss, Norway
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2008
The Norwegian Government Representation Buildings, Oslo, Norway
2000
KORO, Norway
1996
R5, Government Building, Oslo, Norway
1994
Soletunet, Stokke, Norway
1992
University of Agder, Grimstad, Norway
1990
Council Hall, Gol, Norway
TEACHING
2013–16
Professor and Head of Ceramics, Art and Craft, KHiO, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Oslo, Norway
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Drammens Museum, Drammen, Norway
KODE Museums, Bergen, Norway
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway
The Anthony Shaw Collection, York Art Gallery, Centre of Ceramic Art, York, UK
The National Museum, Oslo, Norway
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
