Alfredo Esparza Cárdenas // February 2019

Alfredo Esparza Cárdenas is a Mexican photographer, who joined us for his third time in Stöðvarfjörður in February 2019. He describes the main subject of his interest as a relationship between human being and the environment.

Alfredo Esparza Cárdenas // February 2019

Alfredo started his project connected to Söðvarfjörður in 2017 by trying to describe people living in the town, through portraying their houses, trying to find a language for universal problems, touching not only people of the remote town in Iceland but as well impacting citizens of small villages in Mexico. Spending his first month in our small town Alfredo discovered that 30 days is not enough time to tell the story of Stöðvarfjörður´s citizens. The same thing happened during his second visit. That is why Alfredo decided he will continue the project for the upcoming years, as with every visit more elements are being incorporated into his own approach.

Alfredo Esparza Cárdenas // February 2019

//More of Alfredo´s work//

https://www.instagram.com/aesparzac/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Alfredo!

Patricia Casey // February 2019

Patricia Casey is a visual artist, based in Sydney, Australia. During her first residency in Fish Factory, Patricia came to stay with us at the peak of Icelandic summer in June 2017. This time, hoping to experience real Icelandic winter, she decided to arrive in the windy and snowy month of February.

Patricia Casey // February 2019

Throughout her both times in the Fish Factory Patricia found the link between walking, thinking and making as an important part of her creative process. Patricia left home in the middle of Australian summer to find herself living and travelling in the rough wintery weather, that she has never experienced before. During her long walks, besides discovering that walking in the icy roads is not the easiest task, she also discovered unbelievable landscapes within the melting ice and the layers of snow and ice on the ground.

Patricia Casey // February 2019

//More of Patricia´s work//

https://www.instagram.com/patriciacaseyartist/

http://patriciacasey.com.au/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Patricia!

Ruth Waterhouse // February 2019

Ruth Waterhouse is an illustrator coming from Cumbria, England. Living by the sea and the fells at home, Ruth wanted to discover the similarities and differences between the pace and characteristics of her homeland and small Icelandic town of Stöðvarförður.

Ruth Waterhouse // February 2019

Before arriving at the Creative Centre, Ruth´s original plan was to focus on printmaking and illustration. However, at the beginning of her residency, she started experimenting with ceramics and got totally absorbed by it. She created a series of fauna- and flora-inspired ceramic pieces.

Ruth Waterhouse // February 2019

// More of Ruth´s work//

http://ruthwaterhouse.tumblr.com/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Ruth!

Elisabeth Kuklenyik // February 2019

Elisabeth Kuklenyik is a Chicago based comics artist, illustrator and educator. She stayed with us in the cold and icy month of February.

Elisabeth joined us to work on her comic book series My Mother of Old Bones. The story is a mixture of biographical threads and explorational journeys into Elisabeth´s Eastern European roots. As a young girl, Elisabeth got seduced by infamous mystical Slavic creature Baba Jaga and her, as she says, obsession started to evolve ever since.

Elisabeth Kuklenyik // February 2019

While everyone else would describe this Slavic witch as a purely evil creature, Elisabeth, during her explorations discovered unbelievable virtues of this old, scary lady. During her stay with us, Elisabeth regained her creative powers and continued working on the series.

Elisabeth Kuklenyik // February 2019

//More of Elisabeth´s work//

http://elisabethelizabeth.com/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Elisabeth!

Alec Aita // January, February 2019

Alec Aita is an American visual artist based in Berlin, Maryland, who joined us for the cold months of January and February. Alec earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Salisbury University.

Alec Aita // January, February 2019

During his residency time in Fish Factory, Alec decided to switch his sculptural creating habits and focused on photography as a medium. He created a series of photographs and videos, which were aimed as an attempt of understanding and breaking preconceptions of reality and what we deem as normal.

Alec Aita // January, February 2019

// More of Alec´s work//

https://www.alecaita.net/

https://www.instagram.com/alecaita/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Alec!

Laura Casassas // January 2019

Laura Casassas is a design researcher and educator from Barcelona. She joined us for the snowy month of January.

During her stay with us, Laura worked on writing and revisiting her master thesis Using is caring (about), in which she questions the field of critical design and its relation with the possibility of subverting the uses of everyday objects.

Laura Casassas // January 2019

Inspired by the windy weather she could not help on building a kite. She rediscovered drawing and spent plenty of time working on ceramics. Laura enjoyed her time in Stöðvarfjörður taking long walks, admiring Icelandic fauna and jumping on the yellow buoy around the factory studios.

Laura Casassas // January 2019

Thank you, Laura!

Inkeri Viljanen // January 2019

Inkeri Viljanen is a Finnish painter based in Vasa, Finland and stayed with us for the month of January 2019.

Inkeri describes her dark sense of humour and other human beings as her main inspiration, emphasizing that art does not have to be serious. During her residency, Inkeri was working on the material for her upcoming exhibition in Vasa. She created a series of portraits, where distorted faces are being invaded by nature and architecture. She also rediscovered the joy of creation while experimenting with ceramics.

Inkeri Viljanen // January 2019

// More of Inkeri´s work //

https://www.inkeriviljanen.com/

https://www.instagram.com/inkeriviljanen/

Thank you, Inkeri!

Niko Mitsuko // November 2018

Niko Mitsuko is an American artist working in fields of painting, photography and mixed media. She was staying with us in the month of November 2018.

In the past years, Niko has established herself as a professional artist working with galleries across the United States and Europe. Believing that art is a way to get at the soul of modern society, Niko strives to create photographs with aesthetic, paint-like qualities, bestowing her works with abstract, surrealist, and minimalist properties.

Niko Mitsuko // November 2018

//More of Niko Mitsuko´s Work//

https://www.facebook.com/mitsukophotography/

https://mitsukophotography.weebly.com/

https://vimeo.com/user20179772

https://www.instagram.com/nikomitsuko/

Thank you, Niko!

Áine Kelly // November 2018

During her time with us, she made work with ice that was often foraged from the mountains on warmer days. Lumps, sheets and crystals of ice were placed onto light-sensitive paper and processed in the darkroom. Magnifying lenses were often used to control and refract the light passing through various states of ice and water. The intention of the work is to capture an abstract impression of the landscape and present the transient nature of ice, alluding to the country’s retreating glaciers.

Áine Kelly // November 2018

// More of Áine Kelly´s Work //

www.ainekelly.com

www.instagram.com/ainekellyartist

Thank you, Áine!

Santiago Zarzosa // November 2018

Santiago Zarzosa is a European artist based in Minneapolis, MN USA. He was born and educated in Spain. He has been exhibiting and selling his works over the last few decades. Zarzosa works predominantly with oil painting, drawing and etching.

During the residency in November 2018, he expanded his multidisciplinary practice by experimenting with clay-based sculpture, lino printmaking, manual photography and watercolours.

These new works investigate local and national stories from the Eastern Fjords of Iceland. They convey the importance of the merging of nature and old legends with the culture in the local and National perspective.

Santiago Zarzosa // November 2018

// More of  Santiago Zarzosa’s Work  //

instagram.com/szarzosa

Check out the interview here:

Thank you Santi!

Mikkel Odehnalu // October 2018

Mikkel was with us in the month of October. He is an animator and lives in the Czech Republic where he studies PhD in arts at the Tomas Bata University in Zlín where he also did MA at the Department of the Animation.

His works are mainly focused on nature, landscapes and animals. In animated projects and films, he combinates the classical drawn and the digital drawn 2D animation.

At the Fish Factory, he worked and played simply with paper, pencil and watercolours. His pieces of art are influenced by the Icelandic landscapes, mainly mountain Súlur and by the Icelandic birds.

Mikkel Odehnalu // October 2018

// More of Mikkel Odehnalu’s Work  //

http://mikkelodehnalu.wixsite.com/-mikkelodehnalu

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Mikkel!

Courtney Powell // October 2018

Courtney Powell is a Canadian artist, based out of Vancouver, BC, and was with us for October 2018.  She is a muralist and painter, and obtained her BFA from York University.

During her residency, Courtney created a mural featuring Iceland’s national flower, mountain avens, and two of its birds, the arctic tern and heiðlóa. She named the arctic tern ‘Maple’ and the heiðlóa ‘Tuque’ to add a Canadian touch.

Courtney is particularly attracted to dreamy landscapes and characters. A large part of Courtney’s work plays with the idea of transparency and layers. She is currently exploring the idea of landscapes merged with photo editors and translating those images into a painting on canvas.

Courtney Powell // October 2018

// More of Courtney Powell’s Work  //

Check out the interview here:

Thank you Courtney!

Nika Winn // October 2018

Nika Winn is a visual artist from Kansas City, MO in the United States. She spent the month of October 2018 at the Fish Factory to explore new modes of working in her studio practice.

During her time here Nika worked with canvas that she painted, cut out and then pieced together to create her work titled, Cat Horse Sheep. The project itself became a visual narrative her time spent in Iceland.

Nika Winn // October 2018

// More of Nika Winn’s Work //

www.nikawinn.com

https://www.instagram.com/kneekuh_/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you Nika!

Ben Davis // October 2018

Ben Davis is a photographic artist and bookmaker from the Greater New York City area. He was with us for the month of October 2018.

While at the Fish Factory he spent a lot of time exploring the fjord and surrounding mountains/landscape. He also started to experiment with night photography.

His current photographic practice revolves around documenting the world around him through still life and landscape images. The work shows the oddities and beauty of everyday life in common spaces that others might miss. A large influence in his work is the geometry and form in these ordinary spaces. He finds scenes that are considered commonplace and brings them forward in a new light, divulging a new interpretation of the set.

Ben Davis // October 2018

// More of Ben Davis’s Work  //

http://benjamindavis.space/

https://www.instagram.com/bpdavis_/?hl=en

Thank you, Ben!

Christopher Johns // October 2018

Christopher Johnsey is a painter from Sheffield in the UK.  He studied BA Fine Art at Middlesex University, London, graduating in 2010.

Chris makes reportage drawings and paintings, poetry and sound recordings, exploring the relationship between the environment and the human race, and our impact.

During his month with us in October, he studied the ever-changing climate and environment of Stödvarfjördur.  Working on board and old curtain material found at the Fish Factory, Chris created a painting capturing the atmosphere of his surroundings that he constructed by making a daily entry onto the surface.

Chris worked outside in all weathers, allowing the elements to affect the surface of the piece. Sometimes the rain would erase the previous days work, or the sunlight and crisp wind would dry or crack the painted material. He was interested in what happens in giving up a certain degree of control, and how the outcome creates a document and a record of his time in Stödvarfjördur.

Christopher Johns // October 2018

Thank you, Chris!

Maggie Middleton // September 2018

Maggie Middleton is a printmaker and artist from the US. She was with us for the month of September 2018. She is currently studying for her MFA in Printmaking at the Akademia Sztuk Pięknych im. Eugeniusza Gepperta  in Wrocław, Poland. She received her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College where she graduated with High Honors in Studio Art. Her current body of work revolves around the concept of “camouflage,” both in the sense of disguising ones-self and also the highly politicized and gendered fabric.

Maggie Middleton // September 2018

// More of  Maggie Middleton’s Work  //

 https://maggiemiddleton-art.squarespace.com

https://www.instagram.com/maggie.landa.middleton/?hl=en

Check out the interview here:

Thank you Maggie!

Nikolina Kovalenko // September 2018

Nikolina Kovalenko attended Fish Factory residency in September 2018 where she was working on a series of paintings titled “Guardians Of Northern Lights”, processing and interpreting Icelandic sagas and legends through the visual landscape and cultural associations.

She is interested in humanity’s vanishing connection with Nature and strives to expose the consequences our everyday actions have on the environment. Kovalenko works with fragile ecosystems creating artwork inspired by locations specific to each project.

This series explores the symbolism of textures found in Nature, magnifying the mundane and transforming it into the sublime. The artist chose aluminium as a painting surface to convey the austerity, endurance and subtle glory of Iceland—a vast volcanic laboratory tamed by the ocean.

Nikolina Kovalenko received her MFA from Moscow Surikov Art Institute (Moscow, Russia) in 2011 and studied at Universität der Künste (Berlin) in 2010. Her work has been reviewed in art blogs, newspapers and magazines and is in numerous corporate and private collections worldwide. The artist currently lives and works in New York City.

Nikolina Kovalenko // September 2018

// More of  Nikolina Kovalenko’s Work  //

Deidre Cavazzi // September 2018

Deidre Cavazzi is a multimedia choreographer from Southern California.  She spent September 2018 at the Fish Factory, where she gathered visual and textual material based on the relationship between landscape and folklore for a future performance project.

Deidre has always been passionate about collaborative projects that embrace and explore the relationship between art and science; she feels strongly that inquiry and creative investigation drive discovery and experimentation, and frequently engages with projects that are cross-disciplinary, non-traditional, and that bring together diverse communities.  She draws inspiration from scientific concepts—bringing environments to life onstage or in site-specific locations, and incorporating multimedia to transport the audience and evoke ideas.  In addition to collecting folk stories and exploring the geology of the East Fjords, Deidre kept a blog about her time in Iceland and also started developing a dance for camera piece, centered on gesture and textures, both in art-making and in the local landscape.

Deidre Cavazzi // September 2018

Deidre is a process artist and delights in the research, experimentation, dialogue and development of the community that occurs between the seed of an idea and the final curtain call onstage.  Whether she is exploring concepts of quantum physics, Fibonacci numbers in nature, climate change in the Arctic, or the geology of Iceland, she strives to initiate collaboration with experts in related fields, hopefully inspiring audiences to learn more; she is interested in creating art which serves as a catalyst for conversation, knowledge and connection to the natural world.

Deidre Cavazzi // September 2018

// More of  Deidre Cavazzi’s Work  //

Thank you Deidre!

Debbie Fish // September 2018

Debbie Fish is an installation artist and set designer based in Wellington, New Zealand and she joined us for the month of September. Her installations are inspired by environmental and social concerns and she is particularly interested in the use of found and recycled materials in her work.

During her residency at the Fish Factory, Debbie was working on a visual exploration of a new series of works inspired by the ‘Doughnut Economy’, through the lens of the fishing industry. Debbie spent her time examining different textures from the area and combined these into a series of small mixed media works that draw on rust, stingray skin and displaced data points.

She is drawn to fishing villages, having spent a month in 2017 in Taiwan as one of the artists in residence as part of the Keelung NMMST (National Museum of Marine Science and Technology) International Art Project, creating a work School of Scales using found and recycled materials and the help of local school children.

Debbie Fish // September 2018

// More of  Debbie Fish’s Work  //

https://www.goldfishcreative.co.nz/installations

https://www.instagram.com/goldfishcreative/

https://twitter.com/debdebfish

Check out the interview here:

Thank you Debbie!

Jenni Ward // September 2018

Jenni Ward is a ceramic sculptor and installation artist based in Santa Cruz California. Jenni joined us here at the Fish Factory in September 2018.

She is inspired by biological forms with a particular focus on structures and patterns in nature.

Her time spent connecting to her environment and exploring way above and way below sea level is an integral part of her work. She takes inspiration from those places to create abstract interpretations of forms and structures through thoughtfully crafted ceramic sculptures. Her installations play with the connectivity of the form to its environment and in turn the connectivity of herself to the natural world.

Jenni Ward // September 2018

// More of Jenni Wards’s Work //

Her works address the subject of magic, asking what problems people attempt to solve with it, and why some resort to magic as their tool to do so. 

//More of Klara Brydewall’s Work//

https://www.instagram.com/klarabrydewall/?hl=en

Thank you, Klara!

Beata Grahn // August 2018

Beata Grahn is an artist from Göteborg, Sweden. She is currently based in Stockholm, where she recently got her BFA at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, specializing in art jewelry and corpus.

Her practice revolves around apotropaic objects and actions (a term which basically refers to tools to ward off evil), taking off in the notion that present-day use of apotropaic magic is not so much acting upon actual superstitious conviction as it is an act of showing humility/awareness of vulnerability.

During her residency here she’s been focusing on pinpointing common denominators between jewelry, infrastructure and human behavior, all the while integrating photography as a potential final stage of her processes. Taking advantage of the Icelandic surroundings and weather conditions, she works with automated flash photography as a means of exploring the pedestrian reflector as an everyday item on the verge of being jewelry.

Beata Grahn // August 2018

// More of Beata Grahn’s Work //

https://www.instagram.com/beat.a.grahn/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Beata!

Shawn Camp// August 2018

Shawn Camp is an artist and musician based in Austin, TX USA. During his August 2018 residency, he created paintings, videos, and sound pieces in preparation for two solo exhibitions in the fall.

These new works investigate dualities and exploit the effects of context on our perception. They convey a sense of atmosphere and explore the mystery of light and matter – an acknowledgment of our constantly changing state of existence where nothing is fixed. His experiences throughout Iceland had a deep and surprising impact on his work.

Shawn Camp// August 2018

// More of Shawn Camp’s Work //

http://www.shawncamp.net/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Shawn!

Chloe Purcell // August 2018

Chloe Purcell is a puppetry specialist, animator, performance maker, producer & painter based in London, England.

Chloe joined the Fish Factory for the month of August 2018 to explore, representations of the divine feminine with the hope of connecting to the Elven realms through nature.

During her residency, Chloe took the opportunity to explore ceramic sculpture for the first time, creating dolls and sculptural representations of the divine feminine from folklore.

Chloe Purcell // August 2018

// More of Chloe Purcell’s Work //

https://www.instagram.com/purcell.chloe44/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Chloe!