>>English below<<
Arna Óttarsdóttir uses traditional weaving methods to create complex woven works. The footage comes from, among other things, her sketchbooks, where the choice is not based on how good the drawing itself is, but whether and how to continue working with it in an interesting way. It is directly relevant to looking at Örna's work in the context of the history of weaving, taking into account the medium's connections to feminism and social criticism. But she seems, however, in her work, to rather strive to put the emphasis on her own personal discoveries and experimental activities with the medium. And when it comes down to it, Arna is driven by this same idea - the transformation of the everyday and insignificant into something of importance, value. The works stand as monuments of the joy and wonder of the alchemia, to create value from nothing but diligence and ingenuity.
Arna is self-taught in weaving, but she didn't start weaving until after graduating from the Iceland University of the Arts. During the lecture, she will review her career and working methods with an emphasis on the idea of being an amateur or a weaving experience and what effect it has had on how she works and the appearance of the works that are created.
Arna Óttarsdóttir (b. 1986, Iceland) graduated with a BA degree in art from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2009 and since then has held regular solo exhibitions and participated in a number of group exhibitions in Iceland as well as abroad. Examples include solo exhibitions at the Cecilia Hillström Gallery in Stockholm, i8 galleries and the Living Art Museum and group exhibitions at the Reykjavík Art Museum, the Icelandic Museum of Art, the City of Hafnar and Turner Contemporary in the UK. Arna has been painting at i8 gallery since 2015. In 2017, she created visual weaving works for a lecture hall in Veröld, Vigdís's house. Works by her can be found in the collection of the Reykjavík Art Museum, the Icelandic Museum of Art, the Living Art Museum and the City of Hafnar, as well as in the possession of a number of national and foreign art collectors.
Arna Óttarsdóttir's practice explanations the traditional methods of weaving, creating elaborate tapestries. The visual source derivatives from her sketchbooks, where she does not select the final motif based on refined finish, but rather on the possibility of future exploration. It is tempting to look at Óttarsdóttir's work, as textile, in light of the medium's history over the past decades, with the appropriate references to social and feminist publications. Yet it seems like effective countries to pass that discovery by own project of the opportunity and emotional world of knowledge.
Óttarsdóttir is self-taught in weaving and didn't start working with the medium until after finishing her BFA at Iceland University of the Arts. In the lecture she will go over her career and artistic process with focus on the idea of being an amateur in weaving and how that has influenced the way she works and the appearance of the works created in the process.
Arna Óttarsdóttir (b. 1986, Iceland) received her BFA from Iceland University of the Arts in 2009 and has exhibition regularly in Iceland and abroad since. Examples include solo exhibitions at Cecilia Hillström Gallery in Stockholm, i8 Gallery and The Living Art Museum and group exhibitions at Reykjavík Art Museum, National Gallery of Iceland, Gerðarsafn Art Museum, Hafnarborg Art Museum and Turner Contemporary in Britain. Arna has been represented by i8 gallery since 2015. In 2017 she made a tapestry for the lecture hall at Veröld, house of Vigdís (University of Iceland). She is represented in the collections of Hafnarborg Center of Culture and Fine Arts, Reykjavik Art Museum, The National Gallery, The Living Art Museum, The Living Art Museum, The Living Art Museum, and the Art Museum.
This lecture is a part of a lecture series, held every semester in the Fine Arts department, and is open across departments and to the public. In six lectures during the semester, experts in the field of art and exhibition production will discuss their own research, experiments and artistic creation.
More information on the series HERE.