The present stamp series features artwork by three artists, each - in their own way with their own technique and material - creating significant artwork, attached to Faroese nature and Faroese material.
We are so used to presentations of nature and of villages in Faroese art. But in these works, nature herself is the material, and the viewer experiences the works, smelling flowers, wool and seaweed. The soft and the slippery, the strong and sharp, the scarlet and the bottle green.
Weaving, knitting, sewing and embroidering are artforms dating thousands of years back, most often underestimated and overlooked. But perhaps we are seeing change in that respect. Last autumn there was an exhibition in Klaksvík with woven art, and all our three women artists were represented. In our time it is trendy that you should use local materials, you should recycle and protect nature – also in art. Jórunn, Astrid and Tita all represent such a trend.
Astrid Andreasen (b. 1948)
In her work life as a scientific assistant Astrid was closely connected to nature. She is exceptional among her peers in her very precise attention to detail, as can be seen in her drawings of insects, fish and plants. Many public institutions are adorned with Astrid’s work, as is the church in Vestmanna where Astrid has created the altar piece.
Astrid is also eminent at embroidery and knitting, which is one of the techniques used in the two sculptural works featured here. There is also a social angle to Astrid’s work – toil on sea and land and people. The sweaters (Babyboom 1997) is a very symbolic piece of art, representative of the people, future generations, Faroese handicraft and Faroese material. And the sweaters are all knitted together into one giant garment, the way we are all interconnected. The other piece A Year’s Work (Ársverk 2010) – an old oar with a long, knitted rope, which is one year – 365 metres – long, and a spindle full of spun yarn. The oar was made in Vestmanna in the 1940s and is now part of a work of art. The oar, the rope and the yarn, an account of the lifesaving work of the Faroese. The piece is a celebration and recognition of the resilience and the toil at sea and on land in the Faroes. (The title Ársverk offers wordplay in Faroese, lost in translation).
There is an epic quality to both works, offering details and stories for the viewer.
Jórunn D. Poulsen (b.1949)
Jórunn Dánialsdóttir Poulsen has undergone consistent development since she began working with art in the seventies, and the development and change goes on, shifting from figurative to non-figurative and back to figurative. From patchwork to sewn pictures via applied art and recycling, the latter excellently performed in the cushions preserving old embroidery, which women have spent hundreds of hours on. As a teacher Jórunn has created a basis under the works of several artistic people in the Faroes.
The works shown here are: one embroidered picture (2021) featuring red flowers on brightly green stalks and one sewn picture (2011) featuring pale red flowers on yellow stalks. Incentive red and calming green on one and on the other dramatic colour splendour and heat.
The hand-embroidered picture with the common sorrels (or are they lupins?) with its plump French knots forming the relief of the flowers acquires depth by the reflection below the flowers, making the picture come alive, and the black background draws out the motif.
Although the sewn picture is 10 years old, it is very relevant. The fiery yellow and red waves almost overwhelming the blue sky, and the roses stretching out from deep water into the fire lend lots of motion and atmosphere. The particular technique makes the background vibrant with its small wrinkles, crossed by machine stitching. You can hear the fire crackling and roaring, a disturbing piece of imagery – or is it an exceptionally beautiful summer’s night?
There is a sensuous poetic quality to both pictures.
Tita Vinther (1941-2019)
Tita was awarded a national prize (Mentanarvirðisløn landsins) in 2005, and she was posthumously honoured when one of the machines in the Atlantic Airways fleet was named Tita in her memory. Certainly, an honour well deserved because Tita was a pioneer.
Both her choice of material and her motifs are ground-breaking. Tita became known for weaving horsehair and human hair together with wool, and many people were staggered to learn that human hair was part of her works. But somehow the material becomes the message, people are included into the piece as a part of the great whole.
The works by Tita included in this series are sculptural. Indeed, many of her works are just that, standing or hanging in mid-air in order to make use of space and light. Her technique is primarily weaving, but she also used binding and knotting. The piece Roots (Røtur 1982) consist of brown rope, wound with homespun yarn. Very lifelike roots writhing hither and thither and downwards, they even seek to get out of the picture. The background is woven stripes in yellow and brown nuances, just like the basis of all of us displays different colours yielding different outcome.
The other piece is Sea anemones (Sjónotur), the trunk is woven, and the beard consists of horsehair. They differ in height and colour, nuances of brown, red, yellow, and the beard is dark or light or both dark and light. The sea anemone is growing at the bottom of the sea, one of many wonders of creation.
Both works depict things which are usually hidden, on the bottom of the sea or below in the soil, a reminder that the environment which is out of sight is part of our lives as well.
Bergljót av Skarði
Sources:
Trine Rytter Andersen: Fiskadukkur og tussafiskar
Inger Smærup Sørensen: Livandi list
Anne-Kari Skarðhamar: Tita Vinther
