Randi Samsonsen

In June 2019 I participated in a group exhibition at Museumsberg Flensburg in Germany. The museum is placed in the north of Germany. Therefore the curator and director of the museum explained the “Der Wirklich echte Norden”, as a comment to the more generel opinion that Flensburg is placed in Der Norden. All of us who exhibited are from the Faroe Islands, the true north so to speak.

I brought with me several artwork from different series from previous exhibitions, among them Hovin and In Search of Lost Colour.

The list of exhibitors: Annie Heinesen, Ingi Joensen, Annika á Lofti, Astri Luihn, Brandur Patursson, Tróndur Patursson, Jona Rasmussen, Randi Samsonsen.

Museumsberg Flensburg

Always Coming Home, was the title used for an artist event, that went on during the G! festival held yearly at Gøta in Faroe Islands. The title is recognized from Ursula K. Le Guin.

My contribution are textile artworks (fabric, plaster and paint)

To se more about the whole event visit this homepage

Always Coming Home

The early summer exhibition held by Norðoyar Listafelag invited me to exhibit in 2019.

For this exhibition I made artworks in pap-mache. I wanted to start a conversation with sculpture in a different set up.

The process is very different from the more time consuming way of working as textile media is for me.

Curator on this exhibition was Jórun Høgnesen .

In Search of Lost Colour

The exhibition In Search of Lost Colour deals with an exploration of colours from the memories of the artist Randi Samsonsen. And whilst she has researched, whether or not it is the colours themselves that hold these recollections, or vice versa, she has created work that separates our traditional understanding of craft and art. Utilizing the connotations that arise from this separation.

In her own summary of this project, Randi Samsonsen explains that she has been inspired by, amongst other things, Marcel Proust’s theories of the significance that our past has for our existence and identity. In his masterwork, À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu / In Search of Lost Time (1922-1931), he elaborates on how items and recollections from our past affect us. According to Randi Samsonsen, this can be provoced by something as simple as the coffee cup, which our grandmother used to own. We associate the object to a time passed. Mentally, we are sent back in time, remembering small glimpses of moments spent with our granny. Thusly, in a way, we preserve time within ourselves. Although the moment has passed and gone, we are left with an impression, which can express itself through various things and activities. The objects become entrances to narratives about who we are and who we once were. Randi Samsonsen explains that she believes colours have similar qualities. Because of this, colours have fascinated her for as long as she can remember. She still finds herself in situations where she is taken back to certain settings and moments, encountering a certain colour. Different perceptions of colour throughout different cultures also greatly interest Randi Samsonsen. As if colours where a language in and of themselves, translated and discerned in a myriad of different ways from one culture or country to another. She further describes how she suspects colours to have the same connective elucidations as objects. As an example, she refers to the coffee cup again, which now stands beside a coffee pot. At this point we recognize the cup as an article for everyday use. Now, if something was done to the cup, in terms of the material, the cup would take on another perception. This is what the acclaimed artist Meret Oppenheim attempted to achieve in her famous work Le Déjeuner en Fourrure / The Luncheon in Fur from 1936. This piece shows a cup swaddled in fur. A piece that brings forward strange and surreal connotations, due to its surprising and soft material.

This is an excerpt from the catalogue text written by Kinna Poulsen, curator and art critic.

The exhibition In Search of Lost Colour, showed 33 textile art pieces and lithographies. Exhibition period was from 12th of May to 23th of June 2018, in Steinprent Gallery, Faroe Islands.

Photos: Bárður Eklund.

In Hovin – I ask questions how the body can meet the knit in another way. In front of the body. As an object. Non-wearable. Hovin is an abstraction of hands. The reminiscence. Making all the “mistakes”; turning at the wrong time, unintentionally increasing, decreasing… having no control, creating by the hands. In this process, the artist gradually becomes aware of herself as a maker. Being able to sculpture through the knit. Letting the object becoming its own.

Materials Cotton thread, knitted velour, polyester filling

Hovin was shown at KONTEMPOs second group exhibition. The exhibition examines the question IsThisKnit? All works shown challenge the notion of knit by utilizing the inherent properties and qualities of both material and technique.

To see more about the exhibition follow this link:

Kontempo

In spring 2017 I was an artist in residency in Kjøllefjord, Norway for 6 weeks. 

During my artist in residence I investigated the possible use materials found in the local environment in textile design and art. When I arrived there was still snow and frost. So the landscape was covered up. But as it started to melt, the landscape and materials started to appear. I soon became aware of the fact that in the north of Norway they are also challenged with plastic waste, as the Faroe Islands is. This is a global issue. But what is plastic? When did it start as a material? How is our behavior as humans towards and with this material? We are the one who created the material, so is it not our responsibility. There where lots of questions that I needed to address. I set out to start PLASTIC DIALOGUES where I engaged a conversation with my hands in the material. 

The residency was supported by Nordic Culture Point and was organized by Arctic Culture Lab.

Article in Hermentikken

Obscure. Surrealistic. Organic. Abstract. Poetic. 

Some of the reactions the viewer shared with me, when they entered the exhibition.

In February 2017 these objects where shown in Paris. I exhibited at the artistic venue at the Aiguille en Fête 2017, together with other scandinavian textile artist. 

Photo: Bárður Eklund & selfmade

These two pieces where shown on the exhibition I participated on in Paris, February 2017. 

In the gradient piece I have worked with the principle of changing threads to change colour. With sewing threads. 

In the yellow one I have repeated a form and combined them with on another.

GULT//LIÐ   BLATT//LIÐ

Objects made for Várframsýningin, art-exhibition in the Faroe Islands. 2014

HEKLA HEKLA was shown in a group exhibition together with other textile craft and designers "12 karmar". The exhibition was in Østrøm in Tórshavn in July 2015. 

Crochet is one of the few techniques left that only can be made by hand. "HEKLA HEKLA" is a maxi crochet work where I have used different traditional crochet patterns. The work is a comment to the macrame knotted wall pieces especially known from the 1970´ies.

In autum 2013, I had an exhibition in Nord Atlantens Brygge in Copenhagen. This exhibtion is based upon my inner emotions when returning to the Faroe Islands after many years abroad:

It all comes back to where I come from. The Faroe Islands. I have moved back to these islands recently. After many years abroad. I have come back to the rough landscape. To a place where I suddenly feel different. But I also remember. 

I once was like the seabird. I could fly away and come back. Now I am here. Feel like the I am suddenly stuck. You get caught. Transformed into a piece of meat. I know it sounds harsh. But moving back to these islands after a long journey in “the other world”, has set me back with the feeling of loosing my wings. I am trying to grow them back.

The stones are every where here. Been here for a long time. Looks like it has never been different. Occasionally something flies through the air. Finds a crack. Starts to grow. It is all so random. It is all telling me the about the will to grow. To stay. To become. I cling on to the believe that I am like that little something that flies through the air and finds the will to grow.

To see the process in more details visit this page: http://randi-samsonsen.tumblr.com

I got the assignment to make a stamp for the faroese postal service. www.posta.fo

The theme is KNIT. The stamp will be on the market autumn 2015. Can´t wait to send some letters!!

These to object are called

NO. I and NO. II. 

Crochet on balls used for net fishing. 

They are to be seen at the NORDISCHE BOTSCHAFTEN in Berlin, Germany from the 6th of October 2015 until the 6th of January 2016. Enjoy!

When I work, I am quite enchanted by the process in making. There are many stages no one ever sees in the finished work. 

In these stages there occurs a connection between me, the material and the technique. Textile takes time. Textile is in constant development. For me.

For my master project when I graduated from Designskolen Kolding, I made a collection of knitwear for women. 

The collection was based upon my interpretation and transformation of paintings by the Danish painter Kathrine Ærtrebjerg.

During my search within colours, forms and the narratives that are presented in Ærtebjerg´s paintings, I reinvented my own story. From this story the sentence "Den konstante duft af sucker" (the constant scent of sugar) occurred among others.

During my education as a designer I worked with different projects. These photos show a project where I developed a collection of rugs.

I transformed the sensation I collected from photos taken in Tórshavn. Keywords where: PATINA, DEFRAGMENTATION. AWARENESS.