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Ceramics artist Tor Alex Erichsen sold a work at COLLECT 2010. Photographer: André Gali Norwegian galleries happy with sales at COLLECT
At this year’s COLLECT (the international fair for contemporary objects at Saatchi Gallery), Gallery Kunst1 and Gallery Format experienced great interest in crafts made by Norwegian artists.
Kunst1, a private gallery showcasing both crafts and fine arts, informs Norwegiancrafts.no that it sold several works at COLLECT. Ceramics artist Torbjørn Kvasbø and jewellery artist Nanna Melland sold important works to international collectors, while ceramics artist Tor Alex Erichsen sold a work to a museum. In addition, Ingjerd Hanevold, Millie Behrens and Sidsel Hanum sold works to private consumers. Henning Mortensen, owner of Gallery Kunst1, is happy about the sales and explains that his establishment sold more works this year than last.
Also Gallery Format, which is owned by the Norwegian Association for Arts and Craft, sold several works during COLLECT. Karianne Sand, CEO of Gallery Format, informs Norwegiancrafts.no that Elise Hatlø sold two jewellery pieces from the series Ghost Stories, Anna Talbot sold the jewellery piece Sleeping around Beauty, Helene J. Linkosuonio sold the work Contain II and Inger Johanne Rasmussen sold Anna Maria’s Flowers, Drowning, a major textile work.

Heidi Bjørgan and John K. Raustein received honourable mention at EUNIQUE. Photographer: André Gali
Honourable mention at EUNIQUE
During EUNIQUE 2010, an international fair for applied art and design held earlier this summer, Heidi Bjørgan and John K. Raustein were among 30 craftspeople who received honourable mention for their work. Bjørgan showed cast ceramics vases in combination with found objects, and Raustein showed a large work of embroidery hanging from the wall and mounted to a metal shelf.
The honourable mention was given during the World Craft Council – Europe EUNIQUE Award ceremony. According to WCC – Europe’s website, the criteria for the award are: ‘fine original craftsmanship, choice of appropriate material for the object, originality and adherence to the theme of [the] given exhibition. The award which the WCC-Europe gives is an artistic rather than a monetary one, as it is a price symbolic of the artistic excellence of craftsmanship, on an international level.’
The jury consisted of Dr. Ruediger Joppien, Germany, Museum fuer Kunst u. Gewerbe Hamburg; Anne Leclercq, Belgium, Vice-President of WCC-Europe, President of WCC-BF; Bie Luyssaert, Belgium, Board Member of WCC-Europe, Design Flanders; Bernd Roeter, Germany, President of WCC-Europe; Peter Schmitt M.A., Germany, former Deputy Director of Badisches Landesmuseum, Board Member of Bayerischer Kunstgewerbe-Verein; Juergen Wilkens, Germany, Board Member of ‘BK’ (German Crafts Association), and Britta Wirtz, Germany, Speaker of the Management Board of Karlsruher Messe – und Kongress-GmbH.
This year’s award winner was porcelain artist Francoise Joris from Belgium.

Brigit Brühl received a ceramics prize in Germany.
Birgit Brühl receives ceramics prize in Germany
According to the website of the Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts, Brigit Brühl received a ceramics prize at the tenth anniversary of the international ceramics market in Germany earlier this summer. Brühl says she has participated in the market since 2003 and this year wanted to exhibit new material showing experiments in surface treatment. The works Brühl presented were a series of square vases with different ornaments covering the surface.
’Working with colour, ornaments, gold and several other techniques shows great boldness and bravery and reveals artistic understanding. In an abstract way, Birgit Bruhl’s objects narrate a story’, says the jury. The viewer can recognize excavator machines and building components. But there is more: the ‘rough and manly atmosphere’ Bruhl creates is combined with ‘shapes in gold and flowerlike elements’. The jury consisted of Gaby Dewald, Dr. Corinna Rösner, Dr. Angela Böck, and Susanne Altzweig.

Norwegian textile artists received prizes in Anne-Gry Løland received a gold medal in Poland for the work Monuments. Poland
At the opening of The 13th International Triennial of Tapestry in Lodz, Poland earlier this summer, Anne-Gry Løland received a gold medal for the work Monuments. Løland’s work has been described as mediating ‘the relationship between beauty and destruction’.
Løland claims to be preoccupied with temporality, with things that disappear: ‘I want to create a fragile expression, in which there is a sense that the textile itself disintegrates. The physical textile that remains may seem random and uncontrollable whilst the shadow on the wall is concrete and clear. It creates space and depth in the work’, the artist explained when she had a solo show in Gallery SOFT in 2006.
At the same exhibition, Kari Dyrdal received a silver medal for the work The Jacquaards Story – Lingo.
The awards were handed out by an international jury consisting of Norbert Zawisza (Poland), Włodzimierz Cygan (Poland), Kyoko Kumai (Japan), Androna Linartas (Mexico), Velta Raudzepa (Latvia) and Lauren Whitley (USA).

Ceramics artist Tor Alex Erichsen sold a work at COLLECT 2010.

Brigit Brühl received a ceramics prize in Germany.

Anne-Gry Løland received a gold medal in Poland for the work Monuments.

Heidi Bjørgan and John K. Raustein received honourable mention at EUNIQUE.

Visitors admiring the works presented by the Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts at EUNIQUE.
Photographer: André Gali

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