10. January - 15. February 2009  

Episodes - Björg Þorsteinsdóttir

In the gallery on the ground floor are new works by the artist Björg Þorsteinsdóttir. On display are paintings and drawings, where the artist combines materials and techniques using methods such as shibori technique on japanese paper as well as drawings on paper sculptures and reliefs.

 

Björg Thorsteinsdóttir was born in Reykjavík in 1940. She graduated from 'Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík' in 1960 and as an art teacher from the Icelandic College of Art in 1964. She also studied printmaking at the same college and attended classes in drawing and painting for three years at the Reykjavík School of Visual Arts, as well as studying at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart. In 1971-1973 she studied etching at the "Atelier 17" with S.W. Hayter and lithography at the École Nationale Supèrieure des Beaux Arts in Paris with a scholarship from the French government.

At the beginning of her career Björg worked mainly with oils but nevertheless chose to exhibit etchings at her first exhibition held in Unuhús, Reykjavík 1971. In the following years she devoted her time to printmaking but for the last twenty years she has concentrated mainly on painting with oils and watercolour. During her career she has painted, drawn and worked with printmaking and collages. She has had more than thirty solo exhibitions and has participated in numerous international and collective exhibitions throughout Europe, in several countries in Asia and Africa, as well as in the United States of America and Australia.

Björg has taught part-time at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and the Reykjavík School of Visual Arts. In the years 1980-1984 she was the director of the Ásgrímur Jónsson Museum. At present she is a member of the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum advisory committee. Björg has been a member of the steering board of the Association of Icelandic Artists and the Icelandic Printmakers Association.

Björg’s art works can be found in public galleries and private collections in Iceland and abroad such as: the National Gallery of Iceland; Reykjavík City Art Museum; The University of Iceland Art Museum; The Art Museum of Kópavogur; Hafnarborg, The Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjördur; The Nordic House in Reykjavík; The Nordic House in the Faroe Islands; Trondhjems Kunstforening and Museet for Internasjonal Samtidsgrafikk, Fredriksstad, Norway; Norrköping and Södertälje Kommune, Sweden; Nuuk in Greenland; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris and Musée des Beaux Arts, Caen, France; Museo Nacional de Grabado Contemporaneo, Madrid, Spain; Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Macedonia; Museum of Art, Lodz, Poland and Museum of Universal Graphics, Egypt.

Awards: Festival International de la Gravure Entrevaux, France; honourable mention, 1970. Award for etchings in an international exhibition for stipendiaries of the French government in Paris, 1972. Salón del grabado y sistema de estampacíon Madrid, Spain 1976; award for etchings. The International Watercolour Exhibition Plunge, Lithuania 2004; diploma. Artist’s salary from the Icelandic government 1977-’78, 1990, 1992-’95.

Main solo exhibitions:
 
Unuhús, Reykjavík 1971
Norræna húsið, Reykjavík 1974, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1989 og 1995
Cité Internationale des Arts, París 1985
Gallerí Borg, Reykjavík 1985
Slunkaríki, Ísafirði 1987 og 1989
Listasafn ASÍ, Reykjavík 1990
Gallerí Ísland, Ósló 1998
Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík 1999
Grafarvogskirkja, Reykjavík 2002
Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjordur 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008
Skálholtsskóli 2003
Íslensk grafík, Hafnarhúsid, Reykjavík Art Museum, 2004
Artótek Borgarbókasafn, Reykjavík, Reykjavik Library 2005
Grensáskirkja 2007