Nellie Jonsson Swedish, b. 1992

Nellie Jonsson (b. 1992, Umeå, Sweden) is a ceramic artist whose figurative sculptures draw inspiration from everyday life, consumer culture, and personal memory. Through an intuitive and material-driven practice, Jonsson transforms familiar objects, food, decorative items, and fragments of domestic life, into playful yet evocative ceramic works. Her sculptures balance humor and melancholy, exploring the emotional significance of ordinary things and the ways in which memories become embedded within objects.

At the core of Jonsson’s practice is an enduring fascination with the overlooked details of daily life. Working primarily with clay, she creates sculptural compositions that inhabit a space between reality and fiction, where domestic scenes become carriers of memory, desire, humor, and unease. By combining recognizable motifs with unexpected details and unconventional pairings, Jonsson constructs narratives that are at once whimsical, unsettling, and deeply human.

Nellie Jonsson’s work is characterized by imperfect forms, vivid surfaces, and a playful approach to materiality. Through ceramics, she elevates everyday objects beyond their functional roles, revealing their emotional and symbolic potential. Her sculptures celebrate the beauty and complexity of the mundane while inviting viewers to reflect on the personal associations attached to familiar things. Balancing tenderness with irony, her works explore how objects shape our understanding of identity, memory, and belonging.

Jonsson received both her BFA and MFA in Medium- and Material-Based Art from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Her work has been presented at leading Norwegian institutions, including the National Museum of Norway and Trondheim Art Museum. Her sculptures are held in prominent public collections, further affirming her position within the contemporary Nordic ceramics scene.

Education

• Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), Oslo, NO – MFA in Medium- and Material-Based Art (2019–2021)
• Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), Oslo, NO – BFA in Medium- and Material-Based Art (2016–2019)
• KV Art School, Gothenburg, SE (2013–2015)

Collections

• National Museum of Norway, Oslo NO
• KODE Art Museums, Bergen NO
• National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design (Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum), Trondheim NO