KOZO IN MY HEART

ellypartworks, Residencies and travel, Uncategorized

Watching the kozo fibers floating in water is pure magic. Pouring bucket after bucket of the mix in paper frames is a luxury, knowing the process behind. In their own fields Awagami Factory are growing mulberry trees, and harvesting their own kozo during winter months. Only the inner bark is being used for paper, and the process from cutting the …

RESIDENCIES and workshops 2013-2020

ellypResidencies and travel, Uncategorized

Making art is the process of leaving something behind, to search for new knowledge, other ways of seeing, and challenges offering insecurity. Or frustration. Patterns of behavior are broken, and you find yourself in a limbo. Or at least that is how it works for me. And it works. One week at Awagami is worth a month at home, if …

I AM THE CROW

ellypartworks, Residencies and travel, Uncategorized

Artworks from my last visit to Awagami factory March 2020   I am the crow. I have been circling around for days. Under me I see Mother Earth. She is constantly changing. Areas covered with fog are now shining under me in vibrant colours. She looks confident on a distance, but when I go closer to get a rest in …

IN LIMBO

ellypartworks, Uncategorized

According to the English dictionary “in limbo” means: “to be in a situation caught between two stages, and it is unclear what will happen next.” Could not be more precisely defined. After disassembling my paper studio mid Sept. there has been all these things that has to be done. Which is not directly a part of the creative process. Like …

Interlude, between adventures

ellypartworks, Studio, Uncategorized

I am looking out of the window, and there are my tables, all empty. Last night I cleaned up my outdoors paper studio. Since June I have been working there, almost every day, seven days a week. It has been a flow, and I have been totally focused. We also had a really hot summer, and staying under the roof, …

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

ellypResidencies and travel, Uncategorized

Not my words! It is Picasso´s. This is what it is all about. Working consistently. Staying in the process, keeping the flow alive. Knock knock!!! Someone is on the door. It is Inspiration coming to visit. You better be prepared!   According to my plan I would change approach, starting out from black, moving towards the light. Till now the …

I love factories – and Awagami Factory is no exception.

ellypartworks, Residencies and travel, Uncategorized

Days float like a river, sometimes calm and clear, and sometimes unpredictable. It is all about water. Pulp floating in water, linking together, making shiny, wet canvases to work in and on. Every day there is only one question, “what if I try….” No normal, daily life with all the disturbances. I enjoy the life in the factory, working side …

Questioning the pulp – reaching for the stars

ellypartworks, Residencies and travel, Uncategorized

As I did not understand the dialogue between the employees, or being able to talk much with them, I was having a kind of inner dialogue with myself, about clouds on the sky, wondering how it would work out to actually catch one of them, or freeze the blue sky and keep it for rainy days. Takuma Abe is the …

Pulp painting – “Heavens footstep on Earth”

ellypResidencies and travel, Uncategorized

Day two at Awagami Factory, Japan. I brought a bunch of sketches. The idea was to create a body of work, where each work would be able to stand alone, but also be part of a bigger installation consisting of square formats and organic shapes. I started out with the geometric shapes, and within each piece I would work with …

Pulp Paradise – four weeks at Awagami Factory, Japan

ellypResidencies and travel, Uncategorized

After totally 6 weeks in Japan, I have returned home to Norway. I started dreaming of going to Japan, to visit the factory and learn about washi, years ago. Now it feels kind of surreal to look back on four weeks as visiting artist, being allowed in to the pulp paradise of Awagami factory. It was love by first touch! …