Ovia Toikka

The Finnish glass artist and designer Oiva Toikka is now in his second term as a Visiting Professor in the University's Glass Department. He is an artist of immense creative talent, vision and versitility, and throughout a career spanning half a century he has worked in glass and ceramics, and has designed stage sets and costumes for the Finnish National Theatre, Ballet and Opera. Toikka is also an inspirational teacher and has held Professorships both in Finland and Sweden. Toikka's work in whatever medium is characterised by a dynamic, strikingly original, highly individual and colourful vocabulary that often hints at the exhuberance and excesses of the Baroque in form and inspiration. His sculptural pieces have been exhibited in numerous countries across the world and are included in many prestigious museums and private collections. He was awarded the Lunning Prize in 1970, and World Glass Now 1985 in Japan.