Bamsepanteautomat (≈Teddy Bear Recycling Station)

The national newspaper Dagsavisen writes about the Bamsepanteautomat today. The article is fronted by the director of the National Theater Hanne Tømta, explaining the idea of a recycling station for teddy bears. The teddy bears are going to be used in a forthcoming play, before beeing washed and donated to kids at orphanages. The container is up until the 20th of december.

And here's a picture of some of the teddies that have arrived:


Teddy Photo: Maren Blomstereng Berget

Bamsepanteautomat for Nationaltheatret

I haven't been this cold in a long time. It took me two days making what whas originally a glass recycling container into a recycle bin for teddybears, in minus 5 degrees and strong wind. First day the box had to be de-iced, manually offcourse. My fingers got quite num, but despite the cold the project turned out quite well in the end. Thanks to the inventor of warm cocoa, and the nice people at the National Theatre!

Herslebsgate: finished mural

Finally, here's the pictures of the finished production @Herlsebsgate. Parked cars prevented good pictures of the right side of it, but still, you'll get a good idea of it. So nice to have the chance to work on a production for more than a day or two! Neighbours going past were also really positive, an elderly lady even wanted us to try to get permission to paint a wall near her appartment at Tøyen. Good times!

Tattoo or not to?

Ever seen ‘Once We Were Warriors’? When it came out I absolutely loved it, and I watched it over and over again. I guess it somehow hit a soft spot in my youthful mind: the super bad boys and the crazy father Jake Heke, all the tattoos, the family drama that unfolds, and through all this the Maori coolness offcourse… Looking back I'm really happy I didn't get too inspired: having my whole face tattoed faux-maori style. I've seen others, just sayin'…

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Herslebsgate in progress

I'm doing a wall together with Res and Meter of Your Mamas Favourite crew these days. Pretty happy with the result so far, but there's alot left to do – I haven't even figured out what to do with the background yet. I started out with a sketch, then modified it a bit along the way to make it work better with the pieces. I'll get back with pictures of the whole wall once it's finished. In the meantime: here's some flix from the process.

Old aquatint

Brushing the dust off some old boxes at the office this print appeared. (Note to myself: start cataloging things better!) Well, I made it at Granum way back, they used to have a nice print workshop with all the equipment for printing in various techniques. This is made in Aquatint and etching as far as I remember. I loved experimenting with the textures of the aquatint, and tediously working the ink into the plates. And the repetitions! I really miss having a workshop like that available, one day…

old sketch

… from the process of designing this cabaret poster. Can't really remember why this direction was not chosen. Maybe I didn't argue very well. Now that i redicovered it I must say I really like it. Oh, well.

Big up, Torshov

This was a nice and warm day in early june, summer temperatures and funky rhytms from Res' legendary ol' casette player. Just made some sketches on the bus going there, the theme beeing kind of a tribute to kids, I guess. Good times.

Maaaama!

… more from the dusty archives. In the most hectic period after my kid was born, with very little sleep, I suddely realized who the real heroes are and made this T-shirt design in a rush. Put your hands up for all the single moms out there!

Mono portraits

I just rediscovered these in a box in my basement. I printed them back in 2001 when I was studying in Bergen. They're mono prints, basically just drawings in a thick, oily ink directly onto a plate of plexi glass, before squeezing them through a press. I still really like the textures, inaccuracies and immediate expression. And that two of the prints are almost the same, but not exactly. I have to make more prints, so nice to get the hands dirty!