Project Network I & II

Exhibition text in English

For the first time, participants from the two Project Network programmes, Guldagergaard’s annual international residencies for emerging artists, will present their work during the Claytopia Summer festival, showcasing projects from both the 2025 sessions.

About Project Network (Guldagergaard, Danmark)
Project Network is Guldagergaard’s long-running international programme for early-career ceramic artists. For more than two decades, it has offered a six-week residency to artists under 38, nominated by their universities after completing degrees in ceramics or the arts.

Living and working together at Guldagergaard, participants develop individual projects while exchanging skills and ideas. They also take part in talks and lectures led by Danish and international ceramicists. Over time, the programme has grown into a global network, linking artists across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania.

This year Claytopia i featuring works of the following participants:

Project Network I
Emma Blenker Andersen (DK)
Juliet Lock (USA)
Lana Pastirk (Slovenia)
Sharol Ahluwalia (India / London)
Sophia Moe Morbitzer Christoffersen (Denmark)
Veronika Öberg (Sweden)
Juliet Lock (USA)

Bio’s

Juliet Lock (b. 2001)
is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in ceramics and textiles. She creates visual poetry that lingers in the delicate, emotional spaces of the everyday, guided by intuition, detail, and the slow act of noticing. Juliet Lock received her BFA in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute, and is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Sharol Ahluwalia
The work of Sharol Ahluwalia (b. 2001) bridges design thinking with contemplative making. Through clay and informed by yogic philosophy she investigates the dialogue between the physical and the spiritual, using form and process as a means of storytelling and reflection. 

Lana Pastirk
Lana Pastirk holds a Master’s degree in Glass and Ceramics and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana. Additional studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, Poland. She has exhibited widely, and her work New Birds is part of ALUO’s permanent collection, and is a recipient of the Primavera 2023 and Ex Terra Krško awards.

Emma Blenker Andersen
Emma Blenker Andersen is a ceramic artist based in Aarhus, Denmark. She holds a BA from the Royal Danish Academy’s Crafts in Glass and Ceramics program on Bornholm. Her graduation project has been exhibited at CLAY – The Museum of Ceramic Art and at Grønbechs Gård – Bornholm’s Centre for Arts and Crafts.

Veronika Öberg
Veronika Öberg (b.1995) is a multidisciplinary artist who works mainly with ceramic, painting and drawing. She holds a MFA from the Art Academy in Bergen (2023) and a BFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2021). She has exhibited at, among others, Nye Bokboden (Bergen, Norway), Talente – Masters of the Future 2025, (Munich, Germany), Sorgenfri (Oslo, Norway) and Bergen Kunsthall (Bergen, Norway).

Sophia Moe Morbitzer Christoffersen
Sophia Moe (b. 1997) is a Danish sculptor and artist. Recently graduated from the PBA in Crafts in Glass & Ceramics at The Royal Danish Academy, she also holds a BA in Art History from Copenhagen University.

Project Network II
Amalie Egebjerg Jespersen (Denmark)
Laura Astrup Larsen (Denmark)
Lilith Rafl (AUT)
Rachel Heibel (USA)
Sean Whalen (USA)

Bio’s

Amalie Egebjerg Jespersen
Amalie Egebjerg Jespersen (b. 1999) works figuratively with functional objects, approaching ceramics with curiosity rather than fixed rules or styles. By combining ceramics with other materials, she explores contrasts inspired by the ugly, disturbing, and brutal aspects of the human world. Holds a Bachelor’s degree in Glass and Ceramics from The Royal Danish Academy of Crafts (2025). 

Laura Astrup Larsen
Laura Astrup Larsen (b. 1996) is a Danish artist and designer working at the intersection of design and craft. She combines experimental material combinations with ceramic traditions; and explores clay, textiles, silicone, glass, and acrylic through a tactile, sensory practice, creating objects that invite physical engagement in a digitally driven world. Holds a BA in Industrial Design and a Master’s in Craft: Ceramics and Glass from Konstfack (2024). 

Sean Whalen
With a background in pottery, Sean Whalen combines technical knowledge of clay and glazes with an interest in sustainable studio practices. His work focuses on reclaiming studio materials—clay, glaze, and production waste, transforming them into tiles, architectural elements, and sculptural objects. By exploring recycled materials, Whalen addresses sustainability in ceramics while creating visually compelling, functional, and experimental forms.
Sean Whalen (b. 2000) holds a BFA in Ceramics and Social Practice from the Kansas City Art Institute. 

Rachel Heibel
Rachel Heibel (b. 1999) bases her practice in the resilience, fragility, and memory of the body. Influenced by her own injuries and recovery, she works with clay to explore cycles of tension, repair, and transformation. Her sculptures balance structure and collapse, utility and excess, inviting pause in a fast-paced world while grounding viewers in tactile, physical experience.
Growing up in the Midwest of USA, she learned discipline and purpose through labor and sport, shaping her approach to function and form. 

Lilith Rafl
Lilith Rafl (b. 1998) holds a BA in Ceramics from the Royal Danish Academy of Crafts (2025). Her practice explores found objects and their narratives, using walking and collecting as both research and engagement with place. For her Project Network project, she investigates holes in nature and architecture as homes and portals, drawing inspiration from nests, caves, and insect structures. Through hand-building and multi-part thrown forms, Raftl creates ceramic sculptures that invite curiosity, bridging human and natural worlds.