I am so excited to be part of the group exhibition „Arven“ /„Inheritence“ at Bakketunet in Bjørke gallery this summer.
The opening is Sunday 26th of July and it goes through to the end of August.
It’s a privilege to have my art in this historical spot - Sunnmøres oldest and most complete old farmstead from 1549! On a hilltop, surrounded by stunning mountain peeks at the foot of Hjørundfjorden, it is quite the spot for a day trip, or a must on your Norway roadtrip itinerary. 
This exhibition features some of my latest works, that take you back into a fairytale land and I hope connects the old and the new. I also included my work ‚Modern Ophelia‘ and part of my dove collection, which shines a light on our relationship to our clothing and asks questions on how it has changed the last century - especially on the walls of this old home, it really provokes thoughts to come back to traditional ways. 
Let me know, what you thought of the show and leave a comment!

I have a new exhibtion that is up at dråpe now and actually opening in just a couple hours! Sunday - 15th of May, 12:00. In this one I went all for forests with some exceptions. In a way it's about mystery and beauty and connection to nature. We are so aware of our need to connect to nature yet I wonder if we fail to actually connect. The main painting "Velsignelse" plays into that. We carry the beauty of the creator and the world around us does too. Do we see it? Do we manage to connect with it, or are our modern lives safely packed in a sterile box?
I want to inspire longing for rest and repose with this show and an invitation to sit, dream and reconnect. With whatever it is you believe -  you know there is more in you than solely biology. And even 'just' looking at that will give us unceasing opportunity for wonder. You yourself are mind blowing. No matter where we turn there is wonder. In you, around you, across the table from you. In your coffee cup, on the streets outside, the phone you hold... So enjoy your drink, enjoy the company and lean into wonder.

The paintings will be up for at least a month - so the end of June.
All of them are for sale in the shop here.
I am also putting up the opportunity to purchase prints on canvas of some of the works. Since I am using a lot of metal leaf, I will apply new metal leaf on the prints afterwards by hand. So you will receive a unique print with the same glistening and ever shifting light effect as the original.

I hope to see you there!
The shop will be life by the time the cafe opens at 12:00!

Adressing Fast Fashion, it's ripple effects around the globe and our involvement.

For the main work "Modern Ophelia" I have taken the famous work "Ophelia" by John Everett Millais as my foundation. Made the landscape into a mess of clothing with the same colour scheme and replaced the white Ophelia with a girl from South East Asia. 
I've always loved Millais' work. But it shows a tragic and ugly thing, a suicide of a girl gone mad, in a beautiful romantic way. And yet I am just drawn to her face and get involved with the landscape and am moved, but not shocked.
The fashion industry looks beautiful and fun on the outside, but the backside has long and ugly streams running through our own society, our own minds, and mostly through the countless lives that make OUR clothes day in and day out. And it doesn't just stop at those that sew the fabrics together. There are so many dark corners, starting with the cotton industries, where whole villages in India, just to name one effect, keep having babies born with disabilities and sicknesses and their fathers die way to young of cancers because they work with toxic pesticides in the cotton fields. And then there are the mountains of toxic clothing waste (most of the material we wear today is actually harmful for the environment) just in the landscape somewhere in the deserts in Chile or in many countries in Africa - our 'generous' donations end up somewhere. 
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The dove collection is my reflection on my own involvement. 
They are supposed to remind us of Iconography, icon paintings, paintings of saints. 
Yet doves with halos? Doves carry so much symbolism in many cultures and religions. 
In a way they represent a innocent creature, a pure being. In some religions and cultures they would be used as sacrifices - for example in Judaism. 
Of course they also represent peace.
I am playing on the innocence and victimhood. Because even though my ideals are to buy fair-trade and sustainable fashion, I find it very difficult to do it consitantly because frankly, there are actually as good as no options in Ålesund. And the online options are very limited in Norway and at least in my mindset out of my price range. I am still making a shift in my mind about clothes. I want them to last I don't want to keep buying cheap deals that will hopefully last me a season. But I would rather want to have clothes of quality that I know last me years. Every time I go into a mainstream fashion store I am involved. Yet I feel like a victim of the big players of the fashion industry. Because I think I don't have an option. But is that really true or am I just choosing convenience? How innocent am I and way do I even play this game? It seems so fun on the outside, but what are the backstories of my clothes? What is actually lurking in my closet?
Just two generations ago it was so normal to make you own clothes, and to simply own less. And it was ok. 
Now we usually own so much that it troubles us. 

New project exhibition coming up in Ålesund at Mottaket!
April 4th- 10th.
 
(norsk tekst under :)

I am having an exhibition coming up and this time it's not about a fairytale, however it might be a fairytale we are telling ourselves. "Modern Ophelia. Made" is an exhibition that highlights the fast fashion industry and it's ripple effects around the globe. It's an attempt at provoking more questions, which hopefully will lead to more actions. 
It's been in the media focus for a couple years, yet the changes have been so small and especially here in Ålesund there are almost no options. This exhibition highlights also our own idealization of our innocence and victimhood in this craziness. Yet every morning when we get dressed, we are involved. It's a complicated mess and hard to see how to get out of. I hope this exhibition sparks thought and conversation. Many solutions and beautiful initiatives have happened and wouldn't it be wonderful to inspire to more! 
The main painting is inspired by ”Ophelia” by John Everett Millais (1852). Just this time it's not a Scandinavian girl floating to her death in a romantic setting, but a southeast asian wan in a bright pink sari in a mess of clothes as the landscape.
I've had this idea for years, and finally it's gotten onto canvas.
I hope you can come and see it in person, there will be some events happening during the week, which I will be posting about. But there will be also many opportunities to follow proceedings online. and I will be posting on this blog about it.
I'm excited to share this work with you!

Om utstillingen: 
”Modern Ophelia. Made.” er en prosjektutstilling som belyser effektene av ”fast fashion” og stiller spørsmål rundt idealiseringen av vår uskyldig- og offermentalitet i kaoset av den globale moteindustrien samt dets ringvirkninger i vårt samfunn og i livene hos dem som lager klærne våre.  
Hovedverket i denne utstillingen, ”Modern Ophelia”, er inspirert av ”Ophelia” av John Everett Millais (1852). Istedenfor en nordeuropeisk kvinne i en hvit kjole, ligger det nå en sørøstasiatisk kvinne i en krasjrosa sari i et mylder av klær. Maleriet peker på hva som er galt med vårt samfunn og hele moteindustrien. Formålet med denne utstillingen er å få frem kritiske spørsmål i betrakterne og invitere til dialog i hvordan vi kan sammen finne en løsning på dagens problem. 

Jeg synes kunst og kaffe passer veldig godt sammen. Derfor ha vi arrangert en liten smaks opplevelse gjennom utstillingen. 
Velkommen til Cupping av Jacu Kaffe mellom kunstutstillingen 'Vestenfor Måne' i NittenNullni på Valderøya!
Er du glad i kaffe og kunst og ha du lyst til en skikkelig smaks opplevelse for både mund og øyner? 

Med barista og brenner fra Jacu kaffebrenneri skal vi få forskjellige smaksprøver av ulike typer kaffe og lære mer om alt rundt kaffe og kaffesmaking. Før og etter kan du nyte ikke bare kaffesmaken men også kunst på veggen av Silvia Ilona Klatt som ha utstillingen henge til og med 7. November i lokale. Ho er også på sted for spørsmål og prat.

Kjøp billett her!

Bli med på en reise inn i en eventyrlig verden gjennom malerier og tegninger inspirert av nordiske folkefortellinger. En utstilling som er til inspirasjon og glede for alle aldre.
Silvia Ilona Klatt er en utdannet kunstner fra et klassisk kunstakademi i Firenze og jobber mest med oljemalerier og tradisjonelle tegninger. Motivene er som oftest egne komposisjoner, spesielt inspirert av folk og landskap fra nærområdet.

I tre helger i oktober vil det være arrangementer på Valderøya hvor det blir mulig å beundre utstillingen med snacks og drikke.

Alle bilder for salg kan du sjå her.

Commission work! Always an exciting and daunting thing to do, but it's all good when the clients love it in the end and the artist is happy too!
This one has a bit of a story. The couple that ordered the painting, had seen my 'Vinterhimmel' exhibit and fell in love with my favourite painting of same exhibition of the same island, Godøya. However it got sold on the first day, so wasn't available anymore. I asked them if they would like to commission a painting instead. After explaining the process they agreed and I got to work.
They really wanted it as a piece that would go into the husbands office, but they were just planning to take their family on a year adventure to Australia and so wanted the painting in their house there to have a piece of home with them on the wall.
So I painted it on canvas, stretched on board, so I can easily take it off and roll it, so they can take it to a framer there to be stretched again (and then taken down again).
I love that this painting will have two purposes - first a memory of their home ein Norway and then also after the year it will at the same time carry the memories from the year spend abroad and lighten up the office with sunny memories, even though it depicts a very typical cloudy dramatic day here in Sunnmøre on Norways west coast.
Commissioning a painting might first sound scary, because you naturally fear that you could dislike the painting in the end. - Like buying the cat in the bag, as we say in Germany. And that is a fair concern when you don't know the process or the artist.
I always think selling a painting is a bit like matchmaking. You don't just buy art like you would something else for your home. You kind of have to fall in love with it and then see if it could be a long term thing. So if buying art in a gallery could be a love-at-first-sight kind of story, commissioning a painting would be the arranged marriage in this analogy. I understand why you would cringe.
But it really shouldn't be this way, so let me explain how I do it.
Usually you would commission an artist because you already love their work, have been following them for a while and you trust the quality of their work. Also you like the style and you can imagine something of their work in your home. 
I first meet with my clients over coffee or the like and ask what they liked of my work already and then what they envision for the commission piece. Once I have an idea, the frist step is to develop a sketch or several. In this case, I developed two sketches and showed them both. They loved both, took the examples home and got back to me. In the end, they went for one of the, but wanted more of the blue tones of the first one, which was no problem.

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I usually charge the first half of the agreed price as the first instalment when I've done the sketches and we agreed on the painting. This gives a lot of security to both parties. - I can start working and they know that I am taking it serious as I've gotten paid half and will receive the rest on completion and delivery of the work.
I also agree that if in the end the painting is not right for them, they can use the 50% instalment towards another painting. This hasn't happened to me yet, but of course it could, so it gives some safety for both parties - I haven't been working in the painting for nothing and can hopefully still sell it after and they know they will still get an artwork of the artist they like.
With this commission their idea was, that they wanted a painting of their favourite spots and they gave me a list of the places they really liked, with views from around the area. I checked them out did sketches and patiently waited for a stormy day that would allow me to capture the cloud drama that they liked in my other work. This actually took a while, because after they commissioned me the weather never was quite right and the sky was simply white for weeks! But finally there was a promising day and I went on a hike on Valderøya, as I had already narrowed down the view I thought would work best. And it was such perfect timing! As we got up to the top the clouds broke and the afternoon light came through and illuminated Alnes on Godøya. I had my camera with me and took some pictures which I later used for my sketches. 
So if you are thinking now, it could be something for you to try the 'arranged marriage' version of finding art for your home for business and you like my work, it's just to contact me and we can talk about it! I#d love to hear from you and see if I can serve you!

I will be offering a landscape painting course in the summer.
Five days of outdoor painting, I am arranging for roofed options in case of rain #vestkysten
This will be a beautiful and fun experience in one of Norways extremely beautiful regions - Møre og Romsdal.
Join me in an adventurous week of painting and enjoying the outdoors. 
More infos to come, if you are interested, let me know, there will be limited spots.

My exhibition of landscapes from around Ålesund is now up on the walls of Dråpe Kaffehus here in town! It’s a winter exhibit and will be on view until February. They are also for sale and make a very unique addition to your home or office or business interior. 
Have a look and get a coffee. They have great baristas ;)

I will have to wait to offer classes until next month due to the new recommendations concerning Covid.
The portrait Class will start again in February on the 4th. 
Each Thursday night 18:00-20:00. You can book them already in advance. And if you need a refund due to Covid, that will be no problem.
If you are interested in private lessons instead, we can start a conversation.