Konstverk Åminnelse

This bronze sculpture
stands outside Åminne ironworks, before the railway crossing at the
Sjömalmsvägen junction, to commemorate the sea ore extraction in Vidöstern. Ore
extraction was done entirely by hand, primarily during the winter months when
the ice could support both workers and draught animals. It was heavy work in
the cold, wind and snow.

The artwork was
purchased by the Municipality of Värnamo in 2000.

The artist Kajsa
Mattas was born in Finland but now lives in Stockholm. She is one of the most
renowned sculptors in Sweden. She received her artistic training at the Royal
Institute of Art in Stockholm 1975-1981. Since then she has had many
exhibitions around the world, but in Sweden she is best known for her bronze
sculptures at the Sagerska Palace in Stockholm and for her marble sculpture in
the Stockholm City Terminal.

Her works are
characterised by pure and sacred forms, understated movement and a rigorous
attention to detail, which can be seen in the toned-down design language.

In 2009, she was
awarded the Swedish Sculptor’s Association’s Sergelstipendium with the
following statement: “Kajsa Mattas is an artist who, with great consistency and
small means, imbues her sculptures with a connection between inner and outer
reality. Kajsa brings the surface to life. There is a stillness, as worn by the
sea for a long time, but also a surface full of emotions, as if something were
to explode from within."