Yang Jianwei is an animation artist and a visual artist from China who stayed with us during February 2017.  His work revolves around fictional characters which he portraits in his drawings on paper with pencil, gouache and water colour. Yang is interested in researching the connections between people’s lives and social and urban development. He thinks that human behaviour plays a certain role in social development and he is interested in the impact society has on people’s lives.

Yang became interested in the Ceramic Workshop in the Factory and started to experiment with forming his character in clay as an alternative approach to his work method and it opened up a new field for his project, since he never worked with that medium before.

//More of Yang’s Artwork//

http://yangxiaolv.tumblr.com

Check out the interview about his stay here:

Thank You, Yang!

Nicole Pedersen is a sound artist and a visual artist from Denmark and she has been staying with us during January and February 2017. Before her residency, she travelled to south-east Asia and was inspired by their cultural heritage. Her project was to create objects that had references to historical relics and archaeological finds and temples that represent a history of lost civilisations.

Furthermore, she is interested in science fiction and artificial intelligence, outer space and life on distant planets. In Stodvarfjordur she constructed a number of fake historic relics that implies an extinct existence, thus creating an artificial history of a civilisation or intelligence that has never been. She was very inspired by the rural and other worldly scenery of Iceland during her residency here and she worked on various objects with different materials such as electronic lights and different kind of metals. Also, she started to create various objects from clay in the ceramic workshop, which helped her to get into the right frame of her mind for her project!

//More of Nicole’s Artwork//

http://www.nicolececiliebitschpedersen.com/

Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You, Nicole!

Sara Nanna Jørgensen is an Animation Artist, a Visual Artist from Denmark who stayed with us for one month in February 2017. She works on films and images with her characters. She makes characters with her special materials and her perspective. During her residency, she made three characters inspired by the landscape surrounding Stöðvarfjörður.

She seeks inspiration in dreams, thoughts and memories, she captures impressions, behaviour and moods of people around her and as well from drawings of her surroundings. Then she recreates them. She uses her recreated characters as symbols to act out her thoughts and moods.

The images are a juxtaposition of naturalistic characters and abstract creatures interacting with each other in the setting/stage set. Through implementing poetic fragments from everyday life, she aims to mix symbols, moods and conflicts, all of which relate to the world we inhabit, simultaneously underlining the meaninglessness of life and its conflicts, alongside magical elements and a poetic aesthetic.

//More of Sara’s Artwork//

http://sarananna.dk

Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You, Sara!

Sacha Ratcliffe is a Canadian Sound Artist, Filmmaker and Graphic Designer who has been staying with us in the Shared Studio for the months of December 2016 & January 2017. During her stay, she has been working in various mediums, such as linoleum printmaking, drawings, photography as well as experimenting with instrument making.

Sacha has also been collaborating with Marina Shaltout on various performance – based photography, but the duo met during their residency stay here :)

Sacha is also a member of the band Dark Marcy which she formed with the other visiting Artist & Musicians at the Centre. Dark Marcy performed a couple of concerts at the Centre and where very well received. Dark Marcy has a facebook page worth visiting.

Dark Marcy; Brynja Bjarnadóttir, Sacha Ratcliffe, Billie Zizi, Marina Shaltout,

/ /More of Sacha’s Artwork/ /
http://sacharatcliffe.com/
Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You Sacha!

Amy Caterina is an American artist who stayed with us for one month in January 2017. She was working on the Pinhole & Polaroid Photography and Sewing  during in her residency in the Fish Factory – Creative Centre.

Amy is interested in exploring issues such as topography, reclamation, personal interactions, and domestic happenings. Direct and indirect, the real and artificial, and the cause and the effect of human and environmental interaction. She uses a variety of media to address these polarities. Her installation and public artwork continue her working method of interconnectivity. Amy was interested in the small community of the Factory and worked on series of portraits of her fellow Residency Artist and the staff of the Centre.

She was also fascinated the powerful landscape and how the variation in weather influenced the light and atmosphere. Amy experimented with Pinhole & Polaroid photos in the attempt to capture and represent her experience.

Later on she got her hands on a sewing machine for the first time and it opened up a new field for her. She started to experiment with sewing on fabric and paper as an alternative approach to drawing the surrounding landscape.

// More of Amy’s artwork //

http://www.amycaterina.com/

Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You Amy!

Shannon Faseler is a visual artist from the USA who stayed with us during in January 2017. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where she received a BFA in Studio art. She also holds a MFA in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Upon graduating in Chicago, Shannon moved to California, where she exhibited, taught and ran a University Gallery. Recently she has moved back to Austin, Texas where she continues a rigorous studio practice in addition teaching, exhibiting and curating. In her down time, she enjoys all outdoor activities with her husband and yellow Labrador retriever ‘star’.

Shannon works in a variety of media, She strongly believes in an interdisciplinary approach to the visual arts. ”Aesthetics of Decay” is a series of paintings, drawings, video and installations that challenge their customary view of aesthetics in the natural world. Rather than perceiving and representing a factual reality, her work is an illusion fabricated to conjure the imagination.

Her works are based on climate change and its visual effects on the planet including flood, glaciers and drought affected landscapes. They evoke the fragility and instability of our seemingly tangible reality. Subjective associations are made based on formal parallels that encourage the viewer to make new personal associations. Her work deals with the documentation of events while focusing on aesthetics and representation. Also, her practice is research based. She uses her own photography, documentary photography, climate change graphs and statistics as well as credible academic articles and texts on the subject of climate change as a foundation for her work. Currently, She is visually deconstructing the glacial landscape and formally reconstructing the forms and shapes. These works illustrate the futility of rebuilding the glacial landscape, like attempting to complete a puzzle when the pieces have changed shape.

//More of Shannon’s Artwork//

http://www.shannonfaseler.com

Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You, Shannon!

Billie Zizi is a Musician & Artist from Canada and she has been staying with us in the Private Studio for the month of January. Billie has been writing new music for her album and filling the Centre with warm tunes. Her sound is a heady mix of dirty, soulful, indie jazz pop, and these tracks give off serious bedroom vibes. You can get a  taste of Billies music here. Billie is also a talented Artist and during her stay, she has been making some beautifully coloured drawings and paintings on paper.

Billie is also a member of the band Dark Marcy which she formed with the other visiting Artist & Musicians at the Centre. Dark Marcy performed a couple of concerts at the Centre and where very well received. Dark Marcy has a facebook page worth visiting.

/ More of Billie’s Music /
https://billiezizi.com/home
Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You Billie!

Marina Shaltout is American Artist who has been staying with us for the months of December and January 2017. Marina’s work has a humorous undertone and is marked by playfulness. It is based on sculptural costumes, performances and photography. During her stay Marina has been working with various found materials and fabric, creating sculptural costumes as well as performance base photography with Sacha Ratcliffe, but the duo meet during their residency stay here and started to collaborate.

Marina is also a member of the band Dark Marcy which she formed with the other visiting Artist & Musicians at the Centre. Dark Marcy performed a couple of concerts at the Centre and where very well received. Dark Marcy has a facebook page worth visiting.

/More of Marinas Artwork/
https://marinashaltout.squarespace.com/
Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You Marina!

Melissa Dole is mainly sculpture artist working with texture and big formats. But during her residency, she was working on small sculptural objects. There was a lot of black paint, seaweed, bird corpse, etc. in Private Studio during month of December. Melissa was exploring realm of connection between human ability to explain things to itself and nature as it is.

/ More of her artwork /
http://melissamdole.com/
Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You Melissa!

Katarina is a photographer from Czech Republic who stayed with us for one month in November. She was working with the stone texture and surface and taking pictures of them. During her residency she was filling up her photography portfolio. For more information on her project, we invite you to see project below and interview with her on our YouTube channel.

/ More of her artwork /
http://katarinahudacinova.blogspot.is/
Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank you Katarina!

Laurent Crevon is an artist from France who stayed in residency for two months in October and November. During his stay he was focusing on writing his novel and working with digital arts / light painting photography. Light saber was built during this time to play with different LED sequences. Laurent performed and showcased his light painting live to the audience during our Multidisciplinairy art evening that we held on the end of October.

/ More of his artwork /
http://lcreation.fr/
Check out the interview about his stay here:

Thank you Laurent!

Carcom is a contemporary dancer. During her residency, she was working on a performance generator software. Software generates improvised movements and gives directions to the performer. This was the main project and aim for Carcom. In the end of the residency she showcased how this software works.

/ More of her artwork /
https://vimeo.com/138469818

Tal is a musician. Pianist to be exact. During the residency Tal had a concert in Breiðdalsvík. While he was staying in Fish Factory, he was practicing and playing Piano in a Church. At the end of the residency he attended a show at the Fish Factory and joined an improvised band on stage.

/ More of his artwork /
https://soundcloud.com/tal-strauss

Check out the short video about their stay here:

Thank You Carcom & Tal!

Silvia Popp is an artist from Switzerland. She stayed with us in the factory for two months – October and November. Silvia is a founder of Island Institute in Switzerland. She’s been traveling and exploring different islands and doing research on her project she’s explaining in the interview down below. She arrived by Ferry to Iceland – that’s one of the phases of project she’s been working – balance board. Then it lead to definition of reduction and this concept of life ignoring materialism and trying to  achieve happiness without it. The last piece during her residency that she performed during our multi-disciplinary exhibition was a silent protest.

/ More of her artwork /
http://www.boutique-pamela.ch/
Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank you Silvia!

Lauren Prousky is a multidisciplinary artist from Toronto, Canada. She stayed with us for one month in October writing dark but humorous poems. Lauren was interested in Swimming pool culture of Iceland. Then she started the mural. Thanks Lauren, our dark upstair corridor became a trippy corridor and more colorful!

/ More of her artwork /
http://laurenprousky.com
Check out the interview about her stay here:

Thank You Lauren!

Alex Massa is an artist/musician/performer/entertainer from United States. He visited us during his personal break from his as he said professional career. His main goal was to get back to personal creativity field and reconnect to himself. While Alex stayed at our Residency, we were pleased to have a trumpet playing everyday in our halls. Eventually Alex turned his Private Studio into as Una called it – erotic studio – by building cozy lights from buoy.

/ More of Alex /
http://massanotmassa.com
Check out the interview about his stay here:

Thank You Alex!

Dexter is a painter from Brighton, United Kingdom. He stayed at the residency for one month of September. Dexter’s main aim was to paint in the nature and reanact the nature on his canvas, but it turned out that his residency mostly became work in a studio creating humorous paintings. When Dexter wasn’t working, the main activity was playing music in his studio, our concert hall, although hiking and walking in the mountains that are surrounding Stöðvarfjörður. Inspiration of the village even slightly transformed into thoughts about living in here – Dexter joked.

/ More of his artwork /
http://www.dextergonzales.com

Check out the interview about his stay here:

Thank You Dexter!