Ella Webb is an illustrator based in the United Kingdom, who spent the month of September here in the Fish Factory artist residency. She came to work on a new series of work, for her upcoming show in Japan in October and November 2019. Ella created drawings, designed prints and worked with loom and cross-stitching. Most of her artwork is based on geological observation from the surrounding area, so Iceland fitted better than fine for this kind of exploration. Ella got known as a fast walker, and she hiked a lot during her stay in the village of Stöðvarfjörður. From every walk, she collected stone, and at the end of her residency time, she got a quite of a collection.
Talita Zaragoza is a Brazilian artist, living in New York, USA. She spent the month of September here in the East-Iceland. During her residency stay, she hiked around the mountains of Stöðvarfjörður, rested and enjoyed the Private Studio she was working in. At the Studio Talita was working with paper, writing and bigger scale paintings. Her artwork got inspired by nature, and all the shapes and the colours are from the surrounding areas. Talita was collecting information during her adventures by photographing around the fjord and then transformed that knowledge into her imaginary map-paintings.
Daniel van Benthuysen is a visual artist from Long Island, New York, and he joined us here at the Fish Factory art residency for the month of September. During his residency month, he painted with watercolours to a variety of different types of paper he brought with him from the USA, where he usually works with oil painting. Daniel explored the village and it´s surroundings on foot and caught moments with his camera. He followed, how the local population lived in harmony with the landscape and captured it, with the light touching the scenery and architecture.
Taylor Raye Erickson is a visual artist from America, living in Pittsburg. She spent the month of August here at the Fish Factory artist residency. During her residency time, Taylor made a collection of small works mainly using acrylic paint on Yupo-paper. In her works, she explored dreams and memories. Taylors art searches our environment, and how it affects us and contrariwise. In her artwork, she tries to capture the feeling of the space, more than the technical elements of the space. Borders are a bit blurry but always connected. Icelandic landscapes had their own influence on Taylor. She experienced that the sceneries in East-fjords were dramatic with the constantly changing weather, so it actually felted like a dream.
Eric Neunteufel is an artist from Austria, who came to Fish Factory art residency in August 2019 with his wife Angelika Kreilinger. Back home in Austria, they own their own graphic studio called Graphik Werkstatt, Neunteufel Kreilinger. Beginning of Eric´s residency he found a funny picture from the Factory. Picture from local bus drivers from the 1970s. He painted portrait studies from the people in the picture using watercolour. During Eric´s stay, he did multiple artworks using a traditional print working method, etching. He was making the drawings outside among nature into the iron plates and finished his work in indoors. In traditional etching, a metal plate, usually made from copper, zinc or steel, is coated with a waxy acid-resistant substance upon which the artist draws his design with a metal needle an then the plate is then immersed in acid. In Eric´s video, he demonstrates to us, how the process of etching works!
Angelika Kreilinger came from Austria to visit Stöðvarfjörður with her husband Eric Neunteufel. Together with Eric, they own a graphic studio called Graphik Werkstatt, Neunteufel Kreilinger back in Austria. They spent the month of August here at the Fish Factory artist residency. Angelika enjoyed long walks in nature, taking pictures in the village, watching birds, flora and the endless amount of grass she saw in the East-fjords hills and mountains. During Angelika´s residency time she made detailed drawings with pastels.
Sunny Stanila is an artist and experimental animation filmmaker living in Montreal, Canada. It was her first visit to Iceland and she spent the month of August here at the Fish Factory. Research played a big part of Sunny´s work, and it focused on non-linear abstract narrative experimental hand-drawn animation. She explores changeability and physicality of the materials and their manifestations into motion. Sunny is interested in using unpredictable materials like ink and watercolours. Her artwork unites colours, textures, motion and rhythm. In Sunny´s recent film, Desire on the Surface of the Skin, she used ink on paper. During her residency stay, she wanted to explore more of this kind of technique but mixing it with watercolours, pencil and dry pastels. Sunny creates both, image and a sound. Currently, she is working on a new film, and she used Studio Silo´s space to complete part´s of the recordings.
Eimear Kavanagh is a visual artist living in England, who spent the month of August here at the Fish Factory artist residency. She came to Stöðvarfjörður to find a peaceful environment so she could dedicate to her art project. Eimear and her sister are making a book of poetry for which she creates illustrations. Together the stories are about the connection with nature and finding the answers from there. During her residency time, she was gathering information on landscape and nature that surrounded her. She created multiple art pieces and beautiful ideas, that she will develop more when she gets back home. Eimear described her stay in the residency as a timeless experience. A big part of the experience was that she didn´t have a phone for the whole month. When Eimear wasn’t working in our Shared Studio or drafting outside she enjoyed picking local berries and mushrooms, what nature offered during this summer month. She got loads of inspiration from the museum called Petra´s stone collection. Eimear spent quality time with herself in Petra´s café, where she got high from a strong cup of coffee and crystals around her.
Maija fox is a British visual artist who spent summer months June and July here at the Fish Factory – art residency. Maija’s work aims to address conscious observations to the places/spaces that she finds herself in. She works in mediums that become apparent through the process of being in the world; crafting site-specific companions; sculptural objects and devices, that encourage the act of paying attention to what’s happening when it’s happening; in this case, responding specifically to the experience and landscape of Stöðvarfjörður East Iceland. Here at the Fish Factory Maija has built a wind-powered device (a similar machoism to a pottery wheel, but the motion powered by the input of the wind). This interactive object creates an interface encouraging communication and engagement between Maija and the wind.
The sculpture was created with the intention to collaborate with the distinctive elements of this landscape, the interest and inspiration that came from the dynamic movement and unique forms that are so apparent in this landscape. The physical process of being in and spending time in the landscape, with the device enabled a deeper understanding and recognition of the perspective of the environment. The importance of ecological thinking and perception of all-encompassing equality in relation to all existence, the device, the wind, a mountain or another being. The work becoming a ritual occasion forcing a deeper understanding and awareness to the immediate environment. A focus on becoming more aligned to the present; in the present with the help of the elements that are already existing, with the aim to create a shared dialogue and narrative through the making of clay forms together. The device is active/live, it travels, deconstructs, the forming/device adapts fluidly as an automatic reaction to the power and movement of the wind.
Maija’s understanding and relationship with the elements are developed through the process of making, journeying, data collection and the activation of the sculpture/ device by her being present in the landscape. A big thank you to the Winds in and around Stöðvarfjörður for making this project happen, for teaching me about the shaping and motion of this landscape, and to the fish factory for the supporting of this project and donating recycled material for the construction of the device. Maija’s project funded by STEP European Cultural Foundation Labs, The Student Project Fund – Glasgow School of Art and The Mason Trust
Mareiwa is a French-Columbian artist based in San Francisco. Fish Factory – Creative Centre of Stöðvarfjörður was her first art residency experience, and it was an amazing place to execute that. She spent the summer month of July here between the mountains in the east-fjords. Mareiwa came to develop some existing art ideas, and to make a summer-research. During her residency stay, she got the feeling of isolation which gave her time to think, try new things and materials and just have fun while exploring. Mareiwa was developing her ideas for paintings, and she made ceramic parts to hold one of them. She used metal for the first time in her sculpture. While her residency time she devoted herself to researching, emptying the head and focusing on the object she was working on at that moment.
Laura Nygren is an American musician based in Amsterdam, Holland, who spent the month of July here at the Fish Factory. She is a contrabass player and an electrical musician as well. Laura wanted to come to Fish Factory art residency to write music and find more ways to combine her voice with contrabass, so it would be one more comprehensive thing. She also wanted to find a calm place to sit down and focus on music, what she loves.
She got an opportunity to work in Studio Silo for the first two weeks, which just opened in June 2019. This studio is the only facility in Iceland that specialises in analog tape recording. The entire facility is designed by Acoustics Engineer John H. Brandt from Texas, USA and the Studio is situated on the upper floor of Creative Centre. During Laura´s residency stay, she got to play in Studio Silo Live sessions, and do an unexpected collaboration with an Icelandic singer and a songwriter JFDR. During her residency time, Laura wrote six songs and had amazing adventures. She got inspired by watching other artists work, and saw the process behind it. How did every artwork grow from a small seed to its own piece?
Hyesug Park is a Korean artist and ceramist living in Germany. She spent the month of July here with us in the Fish Factory artist residency. From first sight Hyesung was fascinated by the mountains she saw on our website, and she decided to come to Iceland. Her curiosity towards nature and mountains was so honest, it was beautiful to look at. Her respect for the mountains was real. She crystallized the meaning of her visit in one sentence: I´m here to be here.
Hyesug created multiple artworks while her residency time. As a material, she was using clay, wood, paint, graphic, pen and paper. Hyesug also made a few installations. She was getting inspired during her walks in the harbour by the vibrant colours and colour combinations. By focusing on the moment, she could find inspiration to make art and experiment with new things again.
Galadriel Gonzalez Romero is a visual artist from Spain and Kenya, who spent three months in the Fish Factory- Creative Centre. With her artwork she mainly uses photography, but currently she started experimenting textiles. She prefers to use local materials, which are reflecting the culture, mythology and natural landscapes depending on, where she is working at the moment. During her visit to Iceland, she was interested in moss, which you can find everywhere. There are many different species of moss and respect towards it. It´s protected in unique areas with lava-rock environment, where the moss becomes fragile. While making her artwork, she was using Icelandic wool, made from the local sheep wool. She was re-creating patterns and textures that the moss does to her textile rock. Gala also learnt, how to knit with traditional style. She knitted a woollen sweater from scratch and covered it with moss patterns. She documented her work progress by photographing.
Andrew Ihamaki is a visual artist and writer from Canada. Andrew stayed at the Fish Factory – Creative Centre of Stöðvarfjöður for one month in July 2019. Andrew came to Fish Factory art residency to take a break from his everyday life and centre his energy for artwork. He wanted to find a peaceful place that would allow him to focus on writing the first draft of his novel. He was also going to produce small-scale paintings, as a part of his regular artistic process. As a short storyteller, he was inspired by stories of trolls and other Icelandic mythology characters. He fell in love with the beautiful landscapes around the east fjords. During his residency time, he created watercolour paintings inspired by those mountain views. It was one of the most exciting things for Andrew to be able to explore the remarkable landscapes, which Iceland has to offer.
Paul Simon Heyduck is a visual artist from Germany. Paul stayed at the Creative Centre for three months starting in April 2019. In the past years, Paul´s artistic practice was focused on installation and sculpture. Paul in his artistic practice uses different mediums and materials, however, during his stay in Iceland, he focused mostly on working with ceramics. Coming to Fish Factory, while doing his research Paul learnt that most of the ceramic materials are imported from Denmark and Germany. That made him decide to develop materials made out of local resources. After all, Iceland is a volcanic island, where almost everything reaches the melting point, that makes sense in a ceramic context. As a result, he developed a beautiful pallet of glazes, which were happily used by the other artists as well. Paul also got absorbed by nature and spent endless hours hiking to all of the tallest peaks of Stöðvarfjörður´s mountains.
Catie Newell is an American architect and visual artist from Detroit, Michigan. Catie came to Fish Factory for the first time in November 2015 and she has been coming back ever since. As Catie´s artistic practice touches the topics of brightness and darkness, shifts between day and night, she got strongly affected by the never-ending summer light, compared to the almost never-ending darkness experienced during her previous visits. While staying at Fish Factory Catie focused on material research for making glass blocks, that could be a part of building structures attuned to their surroundings.
Pauliina Waris is a Finnish visual artist and educator, based in Helsinki. Pauliina stayed at Fish Factory in the sunny month of June 2019. Pauliina arrived in Stöðvarfjörður searching for a quiet and calm place, where she could let her thoughts wander and develop new ideas for her artistic practice. Searching for new ideas, Pauliina did not make a precise plan of work beforehand, she wanted to absorb the peaceful surroundings and see where that will lead her to. During her stay at Fish Factory, Pauliina got intrigued by the peacefulness of the town, that sometimes transforms into emptiness. That led her to try to define the word empty in different contexts.
Bailey Glass is an American visual artist based in Charlotte, North Carolina. She arrived at Fish Factory with the beginning of May 2019. Coming to Iceland Bailey´s original plan was to focus on creating a new body of work. During her stay she worked on several projects, in May, focusing on astrology, Bailey created a series of small paintings on paper, including the maps of constellations visible above Stöðvarfjörður. She also completed a mural at the Factory´s entrance. In the second month of her stay, Bailey´s interests shifted towards the topic of death and travels of our souls, she also focused more on femininity and the power of women and their bodies, while experimenting with ceramics.
Helen Lee is a visual artist based in Chicago, United States. She stayed at Fish Factory in the beautiful month of June. Helen recently completed her MFA in performance studies at School of Art in Chicago. Helen´s original plan was to revisit her thesis and work on its aspects, but once she got to Iceland her plans have changed. She worked with taxidermy on and off for the past years and found a little fjord in East Iceland a perfect place to take it up again. While creating the objects Helen was inspired by Max Ernst collages, but also her childhood memories, the process of ageing and dealing with the inevitable death.
Chloe Jane Hambleton is an artist, dancer and filmmaker from Brisbane, Australia. She arrived at Fish Factory with the beginning of summer in May 2019.
Chloe Jane Hambleton // May 2019
Chloe creates unique movements based on emotions, places and encountered people. During her stay with us, Chloe was working on a site-specific film project, that involved creating the movement language deeply connected to the surroundings. The project led her to the strange story line up, in the other part of the world, the northern hemisphere, Chloe, found herself strongly connected to her childhood self.
Andrea Papi is a visual artist based in Rome, Italy.
Andrea stayed at Fish Factory in April and May and during that time he fell in love with Iceland endlessly.
Andrea Papi // April, May 2019
Andrea, as he describes, captures his thoughts and emotions mainly through the photographic medium. For the past years, Andrea´s main point of interest was the balance and relationship between nature and humankind.
While travelling around Iceland, Andrea observed human reactions and behaviours towards the unbelievable and unspoilt surroundings. Interested in geology, he started collecting and studying stones in order to understand the geological forces, this lead him towards constructing installations, that embodied the balance between people and nature.
Catie Dillon is an American abstract painter, she came to the Fish Factory with the beginning of snowy March and stayed until the end of green May.
Catie Dillon // March-May 2019
During her residency stay, Catie was working on a series of paintings as a response to the landscape. She also worked in collage and ceramics aiming to bring her paintings to the third dimension. She was highly influenced by the layers of the landscape and colours of sunrises and sunsets which she was watching passionately. Catie stayed in Iceland in the time of transitions, from the very white and cold, nature changed her appearance towards the friendly and welcoming green with never-ending sunlight. Those transitions, as Catie describes, also had a very big impact on her work.
Christoph Solstreif-Pirker is an architect, performance artist, researcher and theorist, based in Graz, Austria. He was having his residency at the Fish Factory in the month of April.
Christoph Solstreif Pirker // April 2019
During his stay at the Fish Factory, Christoph was doing field research for his Artistic Doctorate and worked on a publication on the ecology of capital. Iceland served him as a case study for a prototypical monetary-driven environment, as made clear by the Icelandic financial crisis between 2008 and 2011. Beside his discursive reflections, Christoph developed a series of situated performances embedded in the landscape and atmosphere of Austurland.
Lotta Cronander Lindh is a Swedish visual artist. She stayed with us at the beginning of Icelandic spring in March and April 2019.
During her stay with us, Lotta spent a lot of her time walking, hiking, taking cold dips in the ocean and enjoying the beauty of Stöðvarfjörður´s surroundings, appreciating the amazing nature and all the weather changes, even strong wind and rain did not stop her positivity. She worked on several projects documenting her thoughts and expressions through different media – photography, poetry, drawing and painting.
