Liisa Hallamaa

Liisa Hallamaa
Born
Liisa Kaarina Hallamaa

(1925-10-17)17 October 1925
Helsinki, Finland
Died28 January 2008(2008-01-28) (aged 82)
Rauma, Satakunta, Finland
EducationCentral School of Art and Industry
Known forCeramics
SpouseSverre Larsen (m. 1949, div. 1950)
Children3

Liisa Kaarina Hallamaa (17 October 1925 – 28 January 2008) was a Finnish ceramist.

Biography

Hallamaa was born on 17 October 1925 in Helsinki, Finland.

Hallamaa graduated from the ceramics department of the Central School of Art and Industry (now part of the Aalto University) in 1949. She worked for the Finnish ceramics company Arabia as a student. She also worked as an assistant to Finnish ceramicist Aune Siimes.

In 1949, Hallamaa married the Norwegian painter Sverre Larsen and moved to Rogaland, Norway, where she worked as a pottery designer in Stavanger. They had a daughter, Marjatta Airas [fi], who became a mezzosopraano singer. Hallamaa and Larsen divorced in 1950 and she returned to Finland.[citation needed] She later remarried and had another two children.

Hallamaa exhibited at the French Exposition internationale de céramique contemporaine in 1965.

In 1974 Hallamaa founded Alamaan Ceramics in Mikkeli, South Savo, Finland. In the 1980s, she moved to Perniö in Western Finland where she produced floral themed wall reliefs.

Hallamaa was known for her skill in the application of ceramic glazes and for creating tall and narrow-mouthed water pots, goblets and platters.

Ceramic pieces by Hallamaa are held in the collections of the Architecture and Design Museum in Helsinki; the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, South Holland, The Netherlands; the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington, New Zealand; and the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Finnish businessman and art collector Kyösti Kakkonen also owns plates by Hallama, which have been on permanent display at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA) in Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland from 2022.

Hallamaa died on 28 January 2008 in Rauma, Satakunta, Finland, aged 82.

References

  1. 1 2 "Hallamaa, Liisa, 1925-2008 - KANTO". Finto (in Finnish). Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  2. 1 2 The World Who's who of Women. Melrose Press. 1974. p. 489.
  3. 1 2 3 "Liisa Hallamaa Larsen". Van Kerkhoff Art (in Netherlands Dutch). Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Hallamaa, Liisa". Collection Kakkonen. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Hallamaa Larsen, Liisa". Arabian Museo (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  6. ↑ Svenska slöjdföreningens tidskrift (in Swedish). Vol. 75. Svenska slöjdföreningen. 1979. p. 43.
  7. ↑ Exposition internationale de céramique contemporaine: février-mars 1965 (in French). Musée Cantini. 1965.
  8. 1 2 "Muistot | Liisa Hallamaa-Walden". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 28 January 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  9. ↑ Craft Horizons. American Crafts Council. 1971. p. 47.
  10. ↑ "Muoto ja väri Savonlinnan taidemuseossa kesällä 2001". Savonlinna (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 7 July 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  11. ↑ "Liisa Hallamaa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  12. ↑ "Footed Bowl". Birmingham Museum of Art. 10 December 2025. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  13. ↑ Suomi, Iris (25 November 2020). "Kyösti Kakkonen's design collection to be displayed permanently at WeeGee – this marks a significant expansion for EMMA". EMMA. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  14. ↑ "EMMA opens new space for the world-class collection of visionary collector Kyösti Kakkonen, focusing on Finnish glass and ceramic design". Helsinki Times. Retrieved 9 April 2026.