Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Australia, or Antartica. Does it matter where you live to be able to tell a good story from another continent? The facts will get you there.
Sheree Ann
Denmark. The long season of rainy days and long winter nights doesn’t bother me at all, rather it calms my spirit. You have challenged me in many many many ways, but surprisingly your language became the music of my soul.
Iceland, what a beauty you are. You literally swept my feet away. With your mind blowing storms, I realized how fragile we are — physically. I have only seen a glimpse of you and yet, you did not fail to impress me.
I have been in the land of Ice and Fire for a week together with my sister Diane and my baby Elise who was six and a half months old that time. It was a wonderful experience knowing that it is still in the height of the winter time. It is a place that I would like to see again in the future. It was a three-hour direct flight from Copenhagen to Reykjavik. We were lucky to bath in the Blue Lagoon. There are some free (hidden) hot springs that we would love to try someday. I love the 38-degree celsius geothermal seawater temperature.
My sister had the opportunity to have an 8-hour trip together with some other tourists to the beautiful nature attractions in the south of Iceland. Unfortunately, she was not able to see the Aurora Borealis that week. While she was busy hiking in the cold, I got myself occupied with preparing meals in our hotel. Lamb meat is very popular in Iceland. The sheeps are walking freely in the field and even in the streets if they have the chance in the summer time according to the locals, reason why the lamb meat tastes great. I made some soup, which apparently is very similar to what they are serving at the restaurants.
Funny enough, on our last day, I have ordered the Icelandic soup at Hlemmur Square, which surprisingly almost the same recipe of the one that I cooked the first day. I also love Ástarpungar aka Love Balls, doughnut with whey cheese and cardemom sugar. I recommend that you try the fish menu at the Old Iceland restaurant. Iceland has also very good ice cream and milk. I just love dairies. Try Skyr. And yes, never buy bottled water. The tap water is free and the purest water that you could get anywhere in Iceland or anywhere in the world I must say.
In my curiosity, I walked around to see the city of Reykjavik with Elise in her stroller. That day, I found an art exhibit and lucky enough to be welcomed in. As an art appreciator, taking the time to look art is a relief. Meeting the Reykjavik Art Team was amazing. Gunnar was my point of contact, since it started when I talked in danish. Wondering if danish and icelandic language have similarities. I made a short video about the interview.
Environmental facts
Home of more than a hundred volcanos. Eruptions are barely felt. Iceland experiences major volcanic event once every five years.
The vast majority of Icelandic homes are heated using geo-thermal hot water, one of the most environmentally friendly forms of heat-generation in the world. Probably, the world’s greenest country. -iceland.is
About the Reykjavik Art Team
“A group of visual artists who run studios together at Höfðatorg Bríetartún 13. The members are of various ages and with a range of different backgrounds.”
“RAT exhibitions aims to combine different art forms and form a complete whole. RAT was establish in 2019 with the aim to create a platform for exhibition, gathering, working and creating a live discussion of art.” -Reykjavik Art Team
Gunnar Gunnarsson
He loves to paint women, portraying them as strong and like a sculpture. Gunnar has always been interested in art and artistic creation. He was influenced by his father who operated an art gallery called Ásmundarsal; now Folkekunstmuseet in the 1960. His family lived in the same building where the gallery was.
He began organizing art studios 20 years ago. Reyjavik school of Visual Arts and Kópavogur School of Visual Arts.
Gunnar’s attachment to art awakened his interest in studying Psychology and works as one today. His focus is free body expression and motivation to stimulate creativity. Art keeps him alive and artistic creation makes the artist feel young. He is married to Jodis Hlodversdottir who is also an artist and a member of Reyjavik Art Team.
Jodis Hlovdversdottir
An art teacher who focuses in teaching children how to paint. She loves the thought of working with young people. “It is a pleasurable job, because they are open-minded and I like taking them to art exhibitions where they get their inspiration to paint”. She graduated from the Art School in Reykjavik as a textile designer, specializing in skin (leather) and fish skin.
Marteinn Bjarnar Thordarson
An audio and visual artist, who has been travelling to the core of the unknown using music and art as a medium. His passion for music and painting resonates in his works and appears to be the main instruments of his exploration. Harmonics of Frequency Modulation – a project of Marteinn using his own musical compositions.
I would not wonder why Icelanders are close to the nature. They have an unforgiving nature, yet their love for the environment is impeccable.
Inga Maria Brynjarsdottir
Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, graduated from the Icelandic Academy of the arts in the year 2004. Since then, Inga Maria has been working in the fields of fine arts, illustration, design and animation. Inga Maria´s work is based on her fascination with nature, wildlife and the oddities and ugliness in life. Inga Maria combines real life with the imaginary with a slash of distortion, which varies.
Helpful links:
See their facebook page. RAT – REYKJAVIK ART TEAM
