Anne Lofthus Valla (29 February 1932 – 6 October 2003) was a Norwegian ceramic artist and art teacher. Her artistic style was influenced by the folk-culture of rural Norway, in particular the cultural traditions from

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

, where she was born and grew up.

Background

Anne Lofthus was born at the Lofthus Farm in the municipality of

Vinje Vinje is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional regions of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Åmot. General inform ...

, and died in the municipality of Hemnes in Nordland County, Norway. From 1954 to 1957 she was educated as a

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

at the

Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry The National College of Art and Design ( no, Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole) was established in 1818. In 1996 the National College of Art and Design became part of Oslo National Academy of the Arts The Oslo National Academy of the A ...

in Oslo, with Jens von der Lippe as supervisor. She was employed in von der Lippe's workshop as a ceramist from 1958 to 1959. She married the teacher and farmer Torbjørn Valla in 1967 and moved to

Korgen Korgen is the administrative centre of Hemnes Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The village located along the river Røssåga, about south of the village of Bjerka. Korgen is connected by the European route E6 highway to the nearby tow ...

in the municipality of

Hemnes Hemnes is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Korgen. Other villages include Bjerka, Bleikvasslia, Hemnesberget, and Sund. ...

. There, she continued teaching and also accepted many freelance assignments.

Artistic career

From 1959 to 1963 she was engaged as a designer at the

Stavangerflint AS Stavangerflint AS was an earthenware factory that was in operation from 1949 until 1979 in Stavanger, Norway. Company history Production of pottery tableware for households and for the professional market started in 1949 under the name of ''Sta ...

earthenware factory in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

, Norway where she served as a member of the company's artistic staff under the directorship of

Kåre Berven Fjeldsaa Kåre Berven Fjeldsaa (27 November 1918 – 12 January 1992) was a Norwegian ceramic designer. Fjeldsaa was born in Sandnes in the county of Rogaland, Norway. He was educated as a ceramicist at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Indu ...

. While employed at Stavangerflint, Anne Lofthus created designs for ceramic tableware and items for decoration or special occasions. She also made many souvenir objects for cities and tourist sites in Norway and abroad. Her most famous designs for tableware are ''Tiril'', ''Vinge'' and the children's set ''Du som metter liten fugl'' (Lord you feed the little bird). She left Stavangerflint in 1963 and in 1963/64 she continued her education at the National School for Teaching of Woodwork and Drawing in

Notodden Notodden () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Øst-Telemark. ...

, Norway. In subsequent years she worked as a teacher, giving lessons in

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

while continuing to work as a ceramist. Anne Lofthus created the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

for the Norwegian community of

and established her own ceramic workshop at Valla, Norway where she was active until 1996. Her style as an artist is usually easily recognizable by her references to Norwegian Folk Art, such as the décor-objects ''Stolt Margit'' and ''Folklore'' both of which are based on inspiration from the cultural heritage of the Telemark region.

References

Other sources

*Gjerde, Jan (2007) ''Glimt Fra Stavangerflints Historie'' (Stavanger: Stavangerflint AS) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lofthus, Anne 1932 births 2003 deaths People from Vinje Norwegian ceramists Norwegian women ceramists 20th-century ceramists