Geffen Refaeli// August 2018

Geffen Refaeli is a visual artist, illustrator and writer. She graduated Bdes from the Bezalel Academy of art and design Jerusalem 2010 and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Geffen joined us here at the Fish Factory for a month of August 2018 to work on her new project Amicis Vivit- a speculative research into the life of newly discovered, imagined hybrid creatures. She worked mainly with photography, collage and drawing. In this project Refaeli was inspired by the local environment and natural world. Her work is centred around questions of phenomenology and the definition of life.

 

 

Geffen Refaeli// August 2018

// More of Geffen Refaeli’s Work //

http://geffenrefaeliart.com/

http://instagram.com/dailydoodlegram

Thank you, Geffen!

Kirsty Palmer // July, August 2018

Kirsty Palmer is a visual artist from Glasgow, Scotland who joined us at the Fish Factory for the months of July and August 2018. She graduated from the MFA programme at The Glasgow School of Art in 2014 and with BA (Hons) in 2010. Her two-month residency at the Fish Factory formed part of an extended working period in Iceland, during which she has also been based in Reykjavik and Ísafjörður. 

Working in both two and three dimensions, Kirsty’s practice is driven by formal concerns; a language of materiality and the making process itself, whilst it also addresses notions of landscape, abstraction, archaeology, mapping and the photographic notion of ‘exposure’. Kirsty is interested in the function of ‘slow’ objects and images as well as the physicality of islands. Combining multiple elements, her work often presents as installation which is usually site-specific or temporary.

Kirsty Palmer // July, August 2018

Whilst at the Fish Factory, Kirsty worked with drawing, printmaking, ceramics and photography to develop a new body of work which is informed by pre-existing concerns as well as by surrounding geography, geology and changing material states. It seeks to begin to address phenomenological aspects of both materiality and of her own practice through employing various scales and forms. Throughout the residency, Kirsty sought to expand her working methods, experimenting with ceramics (specifically porcelain) and exploring the function of photography as a working material throughout her practice.

Kirsty Palmer // July, August 2018

// More of Kirsty Palmer’s Work //

https://www.instagram.com/kirsty_palmer_/

Thank you, Kirsty!

Rebecca Pempek //  July 2018

 Rebecca is a visual artist from the U.S who joined us here at the Fish Factory in July 2018. She works two-dimensionally; challenging the distinction between painting and drawing with mixed media works on paper.

While at the Fish Factory, she worked on a number of drawings/paintings and a wall mural in our factory.

She believes that today’s turbulent political climate yields tremendous cultural anxiety, with the new default state of the human condition ‘residing in turbulence’ or ‘reconciling turbulence.’ Rebecca’s cites her work as a reconciliation of this turbulence. Within this is an exploration of the movement between fantasy and reality.

She offers the words of author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak as significant to this body of work;

“there is no such thing as fantasy unrelated to reality”

Rebecca Pempek //  July 2018

// More of Rebecca Pempek’s Work //

http://rebeccapempek.weebly.com/

https://www.instagram.com/rebeccapempekart/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Rebecca!

 

Mary Buckland // June, July, August 2018

Mary Buckland is an artist who works in multiple mediums, including embroidery, bookmaking, and various printmaking techniques.

She is from Yellowknife, Canada, and spent June, July, and August 2018 at the Fish Factory residency following her graduation from university.

During her time at the Fish Factory, her focus and inspiration were personal and communal memory intersecting with the landscape; and the erasure of memory through time and the elements.

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Buckland // June, July, August 2018

// More of Mary Bucklands’s Work //

https://www.mary-buckland.com/

https://www.instagram.com/mary.makes.things/

Check out the interview here:

 

Thank you, Mary!

Sara Walters // July 2018

Sara Walters is a writer and Ph.D. student from East Tennessee who joined us at the Fish Factory in July of 2018. While in residence, Sara completed a draft of her yet-untitled young adult novel and worked on her doctoral research in the portrayal of trauma in the young adult genre.

Home in Tennessee, Sara is a full-time student and activist, working with liberal and democratic groups around the state, and advocating for the political arm of Planned Parenthood to promote access to affordable health care for women, LGBTQ+ people, and other marginalized groups. This activism feeds into her research on trauma, and how the language used to portray these stories impacts young women.

 

Sara Walters // July 2018

 

//More of Sara Walters’s Work//

https://saradoesthings.com/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/saradoesthings/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Sara!

Franck Sarfati// July 2018

Franck Sarfati is a sculptor from Brussels, Belgium who joined us here at the Fish Factory in July 2018.

He came here to focus on his Limoges porcelain sculpture projects for his upcoming solo show in Brussels and to experimenting new shapes and ideas.

While he is in the residency, except working in the shared studio, he also explored and inspired a lot of Iceland´s landscape and geology.

Franck Sarfati// July 2018

//More of Franck Sarfati’s Work//

www.francksarfati.be

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/francksarfati/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Franck!

Sally Richardson //  July 2018

Sally Richardson is a multiplatform artist, writer, director, performance maker and producer.

She is based in Perth, Western Australia and she joined us here at the Fish Factory for a month of July 2018 to focus on researching her solo creative practice and process and working in response to place and environment.

During her residency, she developed a number of projects with a focus on photographic, film and writing explorations.

Her thematic and philosophical focus being; ‘the melancholy blue of distance’ & exploring this in the context of Wabi-Sabi as a creative/artistic aesthetic.

Sally Richardson //  July 2018

//More of Sally Richardson’s Work//

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Sally!

Wild Anima is a musician from France who lives in Berlin and who joined us here at the Fish Factory in June 2018. She makes vocal ambient& downtempo electronic music.

While she was in the residency, she worked on her album project which she had already started to develop. The heart is the main core of her album project. When she searched about “healing process of broken hearts” she found out there is a connection between healing heart and electromagnetic waves. So, she uses her music as a medicine for all the broken hearts.

Check out the interview here:

Wild Anima (Alex Alexopoulos) // June 2018.

 

//More of Wild Anima’s Work//

www.soundcloud.com/kurosounds-wildanima

https://www.facebook.com/wildanimamusic/

Thank you, Wild Anima!

Beatrice is an artist from Melbourne, Australia who joined us here at the Fish Factory in May and June 2018. She is an interdisciplinary artist but mostly focuses on sculptures.

During her stay, Beatrice created numerous wax castings from reindeer antlers which she combined into figurative sculptures. The wax sculptures Beatrice will transfer into bronze castings once she is back in Australia. Beatrice was inspired by Norse mythology, f.x. Valkyries, as well as different shapes in nature, which she modifies and plays with. Beatrice also made printed artworks from her embroidered landscape images of the magical mountains.

 

Beatrice Magalotti // May – June 2018.

Check out the interview here:

//More of Beatrice’s Work//

www.beatricemagalotti.com

Thank you, Beatrice!

Audra Hubbell is a graphic designer from the United States, who joined us here at the Fish Factory in June 2018. Mostly she finds inspiration in places&memory and their relation between each other in her creations. While she was in residency, she collected objects and turn those found objects into artworks. In her artworks she uses different kind of materials like found objects, pictures and she mixes all together, sometimes she paints on them with colors, or draws on them with chalk to create her visuals.

Audra Hubbell // June 2018.

Check out the interview here:

//More of Audra’s Work//

http://cargocollective.com/audrahubbell

https://www.instagram.com/audhubs/

Thank you, Audra!

Amy Caterina is a photographer from Southern California, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for her second visit in June 2018. Amy came to the Fish Factory for a first time in January 2017 and as a photographer, she wanted to experience the exact opposite light situation. 

 

Amy Caterina // June 2018.

//More of Amy’s Work//

http://www.amycaterina.com/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Amy!

Monica Hunken // May 2018.

Monica is a performer, activist, and creative direct action teacher among many other things. She is based in New York, United States and joined us here at the Fish Factory for a month of May 2018 to focus on developing her new solo play.

Monica took over our concert hall for the month where she wrote and rehearsed her new play in which she weaves together events in her personal family history – particularly from her mother’s point of view – turns and twists of US politics since the 80’s and imaginary alternative life trajectories. The fantastical story includes espionage, dark humor, friendship and second chances and is filled with music from punk to Elvis and hip-hop, Monica wrote especially for the play.

At the end of her residency, Monica organized an open dress rehearsal and we at the Creative Centre got to enjoy her touching and funny story. Also, another artist in residence, Clint, was making his debut in the play as he collaborated with Monica as a technician, musician, and videomaker.

Photos from the dress rehearsal of Monica’s play performed in our concert hall. // All photographs by Jana Charl, May 2018.

//More of Monica’s Work//

http://monica-hunken.squarespace.com

Thank you, Monica!

Clint Sleeper // May 2018.

Clint Sleeper is an artist from Tallahassee, Florida, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of May 2018. His work includes mostly a variety of different digital mediums and music, and the themes of his art revolve around the humor and tragedy of our political and economic systems.

While in the residency, Clint was working on a couple of his video works. One of them is a humorous series of videos where he performs a role of an economics educator teaching capitalism to nature by reading Adam Smith’s Wealth of the Nations to parts of nature, thus making an absurd joke that it would be more likely that “inanimate objects might learn about our economic systems, than our economists might learn about the environment.” The other work he was developing in the residency is a series of critical video essays titled “255, 255, 255” which investigates the language of digital technology and the ways we have learned to talk about the climate change, natural phenomena, digital environments, and moving image. Clint will continue to work on this project in Iceland for another month in another residency.

https://vimeo.com/129035675

A one video and stills from the series “Teaching Capitalism to Nature” and stills from the new work “255, 255, 255” created while in the residency // Photos by Clint Sleeper May 2018.

//More of Clint’s Work//

www.clintsleeper.com

https://www.instagram.com/clintsleeper/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Clint!

Miriam Donohue // May 2018.

Miriam is a singer-songwriter from Dublin, Ireland, who joined us here at the Fish Factory Creative Centre for May of 2018. Miriam made her first album two years ago and decided that it was about the time to compose a second one.

She came to Iceland open-minded, ready to get inspired by the country and the dramatic landscapes. This led to her collaborating with another artist-in-residence and she wrote a song about Iceland’s forgotten fisherwomen to accompany Jana Charl’s installation about the same subject. Miriam was happy about her productive time in here, and she made six songs just within two weeks she spent at the Creative Centre. We at the Factory got to enjoy her talent and beautiful voice on a mini-concert she played while in the residency.

The video documentation of the Forgotten Fisherwomen, the song by Miriam Donohue, installation and video by Jana Charl. // May 2018.

//More of Miriam’s Work//

www.miriamdonohue.com

www.instagram.com/miriam_donohue_music

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Miriam!

Jana Charl // May 2018.

Jana Charl is an artist from Los Angeles, California, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of May 2018. She has just recently moved from Los Angeles to a large ranch in central Oregon and was happy to come to a residency to another rural place and have the time to focus on the creative work without the big city stress and distractions.

Jana uses a variety of different mediums and materials. She makes paintings, installations, and sculptures out of recycled salvaged materials and objects. She has developed a distinct style of representing the female form and is playing joyfully with it. She considers herself as a feminist artist, but in a gentle and cheerful way.

While in the residency Jana made a large installation piece to the attic of the Creative Centre inspired by the stories of forgotten fisherwomen of the late 19th century. She was delighted to find our vast collection of recycled materials and gave them a new life as a part of her installation. Another residency artist, Miriam, in turn, got inspired by Jana’s research on the fisherwomen and composed a song about them to accompany the installation. Both artists were particularly pleased with this fruitful collaboration.

Stories of Forgotten Fisherwomen – installation by Jana Charl, music by Miriam Donohue // May 2018.

Stories of Forgotten Fisherwomen – installation and photographs by Jana Charl // May 2018.

 

//More of Jana’s Work//

www.janacharl.com

www.instagram.com/janacharl.art

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Jana!

Sybil Paulson // May 2018.

Sybil Paulson is a nomad artist, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of May 2018. She was born in Canada and has been more or less on the road ever since she turned 14. As her lifestyle also Sybil’s art is an organically swirling process and she moves smoothly from a medium to another. She is mostly based in drawing but also takes photographs, makes paintings and performative acts for a camera.

Coming to a residency in Iceland was an important cyclical finish for Sybil, as she was living in Iceland four years earlier trying to study art, but back then decided to do something else. Now that phase of doing something else has come to a sort of an end, and she will start at an art school later this year.

This is how Sybil writes about her art and process:

Sybil Paulson has learned many things. Some of them are about the wilderness, others about women and men. Very little about birds despite the time spent watching them.

She is Canadian and American. Sybil attended competitive ice hockey schools throughout her formative years and once shed a tear while flying over the state of Louisiana (following the last election) which unfolded on a motel television in Cuba, reported by an anchor wearing an eye patch and a fine suit. She has a strong love for the endless states of Mississippi and Lousiana.

A couple of artworks Sybil created while in the residency. // Photographs by Sybil Paulson May 2018.

//More of Sybil’s Work//

http://sybilpaulson.portfoliobox.net/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Sybil!

Melissa McGrath // April 2018.

Melissa McGrath is a visual artist and educator from Kansas City, Missouri, The United States. She joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of April 2018 to focus on her drawing practice.

Melissa makes drawings by burning holes to the paper with a smoldering incense stick. The method of drawing this way is an irreversible process and the drawings are usually dealing with the transformation and the ways people move through traumas. The drawings and the meditative process of making them is her way to depict traumas, both the ones we have as individuals and those of different communities. The process of drawing with a smoldering incense stick is very laborious practice and for Melissa, also this tedious labor is an important part of the artwork itself.

While in the residency, Melissa started working on the biggest drawing she has made so far. The paper being bigger than the artist has special meaning to her and is fitting as the things she is going through at the moment are also bigger than her. Melissa spent countless hours working on the drawing and was particularly interested in feeling the effects of the physical labor in her body as she spent the working hours making the drawing on various positions from being on tiptoes to lying on the ground.

The piece Melissa created while in the residency // April 2018.

 

//More of Melissa’s Work//

www.melissamcgrath.work

https://www.instagram.com/starwitness_

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Melissa!

Jerry Jacuzio // April 2018.

Jerry Jacuzio is an artist and musician from the United States, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of April 2018. Jerry came to the residency to continue to make his magical felted hats and fish masks.

Jerry considers himself as a maker of things and art as a means of magic. For him, art doesn’t come from the logical side of the brain, but from somewhere more mystical and unexplainable side of his being. Initially, Jerry started making the felted hats with twigs and bones as a help for people who had lost their hair, and their magic, during the cancer treatments. This was how he had felt too.

Masks, instead, come from a different place. Jerry got tired of the changes happening in the music venues and saw that the only possible place to continue playing was on the streets. But, he needed to have a mask on to blur the identity of the musician, as a shield, so he started making the mystical masks with angelic writing and other symbols. Jerry is excited planning on a future performance to play music in a fish market in Asia wearing the fish masks he created during the residency.

Some work Jerry completed while in the residency in April 2018.

//More of Jerry’s Work//

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Jerry!

Silvija Juozelskyte // April 2018.

Silvija Juozelskyte is a textile designer and art therapist from Lithuania, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of April 2018. For a Lithuanian, Iceland is an especially important country because it was the first country to recognize the independence of Lithuania back in 1991. And as an homage to that, Lithuanians have an annual festival in Vilnius called Takk Island / Thank you Iceland. The festival is also the reason why Silvija came to the residency to work on a new body of work that she is going to exhibit at the festival.

In general, Silvija’s work finds its inspiration from nature and she uses only natural materials such as linen and wool. In the residency, she was inspired by the Icelandic nature, especially the mountains and the sea. Being at the Fish Factory she was pondering on the history of the place and also, the similarities between the two countries and their fishing trades. Eventually, this led to her making artworks weaving the landscape of Stöðvafjörður on the found fishing net. During her time in the residency, Silvija was also doing a lot of hiking in the mountains and dedicating time to knit a pullover with traditional patterns using Icelandic wool. She was interested in photographing the ropes the fishermen left at the harbor – she saw them as interesting coincidental drawings.

Some artworks Silvija made while in the residency // Silvija Juozelskyte 2018.

//More of Silvija’s Work//

http://www.silvijart.com

Thank you, Silvija!

Natalie Goulet // April 2018.

Natalie Goulet is a Canadian photographer from Northern Ontario, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of April 2018. This was her third time in Iceland within a year, and this time she came to work on her ongoing photography projects in the landscapes of East Iceland.

Natalie’s photography work is revolving around the concepts of home, whether it’s a physical space or a sense of belonging somewhere. Usually, she works taking photos of herself in different types of settings in abandoned, forgotten buildings or out in nature. The landscapes and the spaces become the extension of the inner landscapes of the artist. Also, as Natalie likes to work with the physical materiality of the images, she uses instant film and then modifies the images in irreversible ways, usually by burning them. Besides driving around the fjords and finding the perfect locations, this experimentation was what she was working on during her time in the residency.

Some of the photographs Natalie took around East Iceland while she in the residency in April 2018. // Natalie Goulet 2018.

//More of Natalie’s Work//

http://www.nataliemichelle.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/nataliemichelle.ca/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Natalie!

Valentin Russo // February – April 2018.

Valentin Russo is a French photographer who joined us here at the Fish Factory for three months from February to April 2018. Valentin came to Stöðvarfjörður to make an extended photography project about the hidden and not overly photographed sides of Iceland.

 

The final piece of the three-month-long project was a photography book called While You Are Sleeping. The title of the book came from a local who considers the village being a sleeping town. Valentin found his inspiration in that and thinks that the nights in here are not solely dedicated to sleep.

So while in the residency, Valentin was mostly walking around the village and taking photos of the activities happening in the night time. He was especially interested in playing with flashlights and an infrared camera during the dark hours of the night. He wanted to disclose the things hiding in the darkness, blur the line between the real and imaginary.

 

Photographs from the series Valentin was working on in the residency // Valentin Russo 2018.

 

//More of Valentin’s Work//

http://www.vrusso.com

https://www.instagram.com/valentinrss

 Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Valentin!

Rebeca Bonjour // March 2018.

Rebeca Bonjour is a photographer from Lisbon, Portugal who joined us here at the Fish Factory for March 2018. Rebeca has studied both, journalism and photography and although most of her work being photographs, also the background in journalism has a big influence on her ways of working. She tends to do pervasive research about the topics she’s working with, and likes to work with people interviewing and photographing them.

In general, Rebeca works with identity related issues. She is interested in making photographic series about the identities of different places, of groups of people or individuals. Rebeca came to Iceland to make a project about the hidden people of Icelandic folklore. She did a lot of research on the stories and myths before coming to the country. And before coming to finish the project at the Fish Factory, she visited the elf town Hafnarfjörður and even attended the elf school for a day.

Photographs from Rebeca’s project, taken in Stöðvarfjörður and Hafnarfjörður. // March 2018.

 

//More of Rebeca’s Work//

https://littlewandereradventures.wordpress.com/

https://www.instagram.com/madambonjour/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Rebeca!

Rose Hatcher // March 2018.

Rose Hatcher is an artist, a photographer and a curator from Cornwall, England. She joined us here at the Fish Factory for March of 2018 two projects in her mind – to focus on making her art works and to learn about the residency program we are running here. This is because, Rose is a founder and the manager of a similar project in Cornwall, called Fish Factory.

Initially, the two Fish Factories were connected when Rose found out about the Fish Factory in Iceland when looking for a domain name for her project. Rose and her team visited Iceland in 2016 and since then the projects have kept in contact. Now, Rose came to learn about the residency program as they are about to establish one in Cornwall as well. She was also enjoying the serene atmosphere in Stöðvarfjörður, and she spent the time in here reflecting the rapid improvements happening at the Factory in Cornwall and just recuperating from the busy months.

 

Rose Hatcher’s collage works and photographs made in the residency. // March 2018.

While in the residency, Rose was also happy to be able to make her own art works and experiment with different materials. During the time in here, she made many collage works on paper, took photos and used the dark room to develop some films.

 

//More of Rose’s Work//

http://www.rosehatcherphotography.co.uk/

http://rosehatcher.tumblr.com/

https://www.instagram.com/rassyhp/

And more about the Fish Factory Art Space:

http://www.fishfactoryarts.com/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Rose!

Holly MacKinnon // March 2018.

Holly is an oil painter from Montreal, Canada, who joined us here at the Fish Factory for the month of March 2018. Her work is mainly oil paintings on canvas and usually a combination of figures and landscapes. She spent the time in the residency working hard at the studio and making many paintings about the landscape and people.

The Icelandic landscapes, in fact, were Holly’s main motif for coming to the Fish Factory. It is beneficial for her as a landscape painter to be in a new environment and in a place with different visual imagery to what she is used to seeing at home. She was inspired and amazed by the wondrous mountains here in Stöðvarfjörður, and ended up making a lot of paintings about them. Also, Holly was interested in the night sky and was particularly pleased to experience the northern lights, and these too were incorporated to her work.

 

Holly MacKinnon’s oil paintings made in the residency. // March 2018.

//More of Holly’s Work//

https://www.hollymackinnon.com/

Check out the interview here:

Thank you, Holly!