Welcome to my first Master of Fine Art (MFA1) semester at Kunstakademiet i Trondheim (KiT) | Trondheim Academy of Fine Art. I aim to bring back wonder for our earth, and I’m creating a lot of trees in the process! My artistic practice focusses on human connection with non-human life on earth, and I’m learning from both indigenous and academic teachers. I would like to incorporate art as community into my practice, learning storytelling as part of culture. Here are a few books I’m reading during my studies at NTNU (Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet) | Norwegian University of Science and Technology:
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, (Milkweed Editions 2013), Penguin Books 2020
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet, edited by Anna Tsing, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan, Nils Bubandt, University of Minnesota Press, 2017
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Princeton University Press, 2015
Naturtro: Om å Dekolonisere Naturen, edited by Nina Ossavy & Marius Kolbenstvedt, Iris Publishing, 2021
Exhibit: Grubbel | to ponder
First-year students, bachelor and master
Galleri KiT, 31 October – 3 November, 2024
These illustrations are watercolour collages. I played with colour and pushing boundaries between frame and artwork with these pieces. I bought used frames from Brukom, sanded them down, and spray-painted them. I’d like to explore this more, but sanding back down to see the original wood frame—as a story about where the material comes from (and because it comes from a tree, which is usually in my painting—you see what I did there…)
A potential project is an illustrated book about a walk in the woods with Sámi, Norwegian, Native American, and English text, illustrated in this three-dimensional watercolour style. I’m in very early communication with a professor at NTNU and a local author.
I had compelling conversations with visitors to my studio during Trondheim Open, which coincided with Grubbel. Visitors and I discussed my watercolour collages in Galleri KiT; my in-process 3D diorama landscape (see In Process, below); my comic about sustainability & ecology; and my comics about life after stroke.
My husband had a stroke April 2023 in New Zealand Aotearoa. It’s a long story, with two brain surgeries there and five months of intensive rehabilitation in specialised institutions in Norway. (He’s still learning to walk without support—the stroke affected his balance.) At his first Norwegian rehab facility, I created comics about everyday life after stroke to help us both laugh & document his progress. I’m cleaning up comics, adding more to the story, and getting them all ready for a coffe-table-type book. Tegnehanne, Tom Gauld, Guy Delisle, and Jenny K Blake, are artist inspirations.
Exhibit:
In Process: the work that goes unseen
Curator: Magnus Andreas Lumperdean
Galleri KiT, 8-10 November, 2024
A theme I’m exploring: humans as a small part of a big ecosystem. I draw my comic-style people as small as possible in my illustrations. My 3D work began as watercolour that became collages. My diorama uses foamcore (thanks @TrondheimRamm) to play with Norwegian landscapes, inspired by places I’ve lived or visited.
I created a comic: walking through woods in Trondheim. Read it below.
Cardboard as a method to start scaling up, moving toward a large-scale outdoor installation.
Listen to me read some of this text, recorded and produced by Erlend Elvesveen,
for a spoken-word installation at Open Academy 2024.
outspokenimages.com 