Laura Põld

My studio in Tallinn is a peaceful place where I can hide away from everyday tasks and enjoy privacy, establish my own rhythm, think and plan projects, read, write, work on different things. It is also an archive, library, a meeting place, a kitchen.

What I do in one sentence: I’m trying to bridge the gap between ideas, questions, influences and different materialities.

Why I didn’t get a proper job: Already at a very young age my most rewarding experiences were art related, maybe I was never too good at anything else. I think I am not always good at mingling with crowds, but the artist job allows one to always try working with different people, institutions and patterns in general and this constant freshness, ends and new beginnings suits my restless character.

An artwork I dream of and I would get accomplished if space, time and money were abundant: A dream project would be trying to somehow work and build among representatives of other species that build from clay and other simple materials. I am currently very fascinated by the way birds and animals such as Rufous hornero (ovenbird) and or the cliff swallows build nests from clay like little potters. There are many species that are great architects and crafters, the aesthetic decisions of humans and non-humans can be surprisingly related. Maybe a fantasy projects could be building a non-human-architecture museum or an animal/bird architecture reservoir with an ever-growing collection of nests and other structures.

Why I do what I do: What I like about working as an artist is that each project is, in a sense, a new clean start. If you don’t give up, you can learn and change all the time, try working with people in different professional fields etc – this can be very exciting! I like both the more social side of my work, the interacting with partners, and the more private part, alone in the studio, which is sometimes like therapy: working in traditional techniques that involve a lot of repetition and similar movements is calming me down. Making art is like thinking – for me where connotations came from is never fully understood, and that is what makes work interesting. I think I would not be able to give up art completely, although there is too often no (fair) pay for such ‘philosophizing’, even if it is commissioned.

Artists, I have on my watch list (and why): So many to watch… Today I’m captivated by the sculptures and installations by Alma Heikkilä and Rein Dufait.

I am afraid of waisting time (I am very impatient).

How I want to be buried resp. words I want to be written on my tombstone: What a question! Alternative ways of burial seem easier to come up with compared to words on my tombstone (titles can be such a hard work for me!). I would suggest that some ceramic glaze could be made from my ashes, but I would be so tempted to see the results myself, so, I would be haunting the kiln room and messing with the temperatures from the other side and trying to be spooky.