From a text by Björn Springfeldt on Morten Løbner Espersen, 2006:

“Craft is not art, but is bound to the limitations determined by utility. The object must be usable. Too many craft artists try to cross the boundary into fine art, but must then endure comparisons that usually make the objects fall flat.

One who remains within the boundaries of the utilitarian object is the Danish ceramist Morten Løbner Espersen (b. 1965), who always starts from the vessel. Which in turn, as a substitute for the cupped hand, loses itself in the well of history…

As a young boy, Morten was fascinated by clay and what happens when it is exposed to fire. And that is how it has remained. A kind of alchemy in which the process, no matter how experienced and skilled the ceramist may be, can never be fully controlled. Each time the kiln is opened after firing, the tension and surprise are there. It is this interplay with chance that drives Morten, and it is primarily the glazes that fascinate him, as these are even more difficult to control than the clay itself. A painting with nature as a collaborator, where failure appears more often than success. Here Morten is a master, and his works possess a beauty intensified and deepened by sensuality and the quiet drama experienced in the surfaces. A poetry for the eye and the hand, which has also been recognized internationally and has made him a professor and head of ceramic education at HDK in Gothenburg.”