Studio
“If a studio can shed light on an artist’s working life and producion, then Åse’s different studios are good examples of the fact that there must be a connection between working conditions and artistic work.
I have not visited all of Åse’s studios. I have never been in the studios in Vienna or Harstad, and also not in Bærum. But I have visited the two studios in Trondheim and the one in Hamar, several times.
The studio at the Ilsvika Group had small windows and it had quite a low ceiling. Yarns was the dominating elements here, arranged systematically according to color, stored in a strictly reglemented fashion.
View from the window, ILSVIKA Studio, Trondheim 1978-90
The studio in Innherredsveien was completely different. It had high ceilings, white walls and large windows which allowed the daylight to stream in. It was a large room where the looms were placed centrally and had colorful sketches and yarn samples on both the walls and floor.
In many ways this was an urban studio. It could be have been found in any large city, as opposed to the studio in Ilsvika which was dominated by wood and had a more rustic atmosphere .
The Ilsvika studio had a very 70’s “back to nature” romantic Aspect. It also had the atmosphere of what was typically at that time, a stereotypical artist role – the artist as a self contained and ecological being placed in a romantic, rustic and somewhat primitive world.
It was here in this studio that Åse created most of her largest tapestries and decorations. Here there were room enough. and here there was the necessary space to think freely. It is perfectly clear and understandable that the two New York exhibitions were created here in studio. I myself felt something of the “Big Apple” every time I entered the building and studio.”
Quote from essay by Jan-Lauritz Opstad,
Director, National Museum of Decorative Arts.
Working with RHAPSODY IN BLUE for RCCL’s cruiseship Rhapsody of the Seas 1997
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