Guerrilla knitting

Occasionally I see examples of guerrilla knitting popping up around town. Always makes me smile! Here is the last one I happened upon - a city tree got a fancy sweater on before Christmas. (Appologies for the poor picture quality, as it was taken with my mobile camera)

Summer morning walk

Below are a few snaps taken this morning, on my way from from my apartment to my studio. On a lovely summers morning like today it does not feel like you are in the middle of a city at all. It is all greenery and the smell of linden trees and old roses.

Grafitti

This is one of my favourite grafitti walls in Oslo, at Blå -in an old industrial area by the river, which has been convertet into a private art school and a music venue, amongst other things. The piece has been there for quite some time, but now it has started being painted over, so I thought I'd better take some pictures before it is all gone...

(For a closer look, you can click on the pictures.)

Summer market

It is time for another market at the pottery studio this weekend. As usual I have not had time to make much, but my fellow 'workshoppers' have been producing non-stop for the last cople of months, so there should be a lot of ceramics up for grabs. And of course there will be cake! So if you are in the area, you are hereby invited to stop by and say hello.

Update: The weather was not the best, but we still had a fun weekend. Lots of people stopped by. And I sold most of my nerikomi pieces, hurra!.

A fine winters day in my local park.

Not so fine for car owners, maybe....

Cristmas market frenzy

This year the pottery studio is having a stab at arranging a Christmas market in our back yard for the first time. The last couple of months has been a blur of activity, as everyone is trying to have enough christmas related stuff ready in time... at this point I think we all would be quite happy if we never saw a heart, star or an angel ever again. But it has also been great fun to have the same common goal to work towards.

I have been super busy at my day-job too, so have only managed to get a few things ready. But the important thing is to be participating, right?

Lazy Sunday

Today the weather was quite nice, and I spent the day pottering away in my workshop, and strolling around the local markets. They usually have quite a good selection of Norwegian mid-century enamel and crockery, and although usually quite pricy, lovely to look at!

I bought a berry picker (is that what it is called in English?) made from a tin can during the war, and a pillow case with beautiful hand stitching. I have now used this as a print pattern on some stoneware hearts I am making as decorations for my brother’s wedding later this month. Not sure how they will come out yet...will keep you posted.

Video art

My mate Rune is opening his latest exibhition of video art this Sunday, at Sound of Mu.

The blurb reads: Rune Helgesen is showing video of a tap running a subway some hard-drives an oven fan two football matches a laundrette an aquarium a scool a living room two lamps a battery charger a radio an almost broken washing machine an alarm clock a computer screen a heating pump a halogen lamp a forest and a few clouds a stereo playing jaz someone shopping at a mall an autumn day a football match on tv some rain a highway a brass band practicing for 17th of may and a few other things.


Summs it up perfectly.

Spring!

It is finally spring in Oslo, and it feels fantastic after a long winter.The magnolias in he botanical garden are in full bloom. Lots of people picnicking, including me and a few friends.

Pottery

I have taken up a new hobby, something I have wanted to do for a long time: I have started doing pottery, and am renting a studio with a lot of other girls (women?) in Gruneløkka. At the moment I am pretty much trying out anything I can think of, and I recon it will take years of practice before I get any good, not to mention developing my own 'signature' style. So, I am definitely a pretty rubbish potter at this point, but it makes me positively giddy with joy!

This studio has a brilliant set-up, where by paying a monthly rent we have access to all the pottery equipment we need, such as clay, throwing wheels, ovens etc. Someone even loads the ovens for us. So all we have to do is turn up and make stuff, and then pick it up when it is fired.

House of Literature

Today I am off to Litteraturhuset, where the Norwegian author Johan Harstad is interviewing the Icelandic author Hallgrimur Helgason who amongst other things wrote ‘101 Reykjavik’. Two writers with an often quirky and darkly funny take on the world's underdogs. Helgason has lately also been quite involved in the peoples uprising to throw the Icelandic government after the financial collapse on Iceland. So this could be both fun and interesting.

Litteraturhuset - House of Literature – is a house dedicated to literature and related activities. It was opened in 2007, and has rapidly become a popular institution. It contains amongst other things a popular café, restaurant and bar, a bookshop and six different stages. They host frequent presentations, debates, workshops etc. One floor is dedicated to children and adolescents, another to writers and authors. It also contains an author’s apartment, which is offered rent-free to foreign authors. A lot of what goes on here is in Norwegian, but certainly not all of it. It is a great place to just hang out, especially in summer when the cafè extends to the patio outside, but also to get your head recharged with new knowledge or inspiration without it costing the earth. Check it out here.

Kolonihagen

I generally do not like subscruibing to too many things, but this week I did sign up for something: A subscription to get organic food delivered to my door every week. It is organized by a small Oslo-based company called Kolonihagen. Unfortunately they do not have an English web page.

This is what I got in my first box: 1 bread, 12 potatoes, 6 eggs, 8 carrots, 1 salad, 1 broccoli, 5 red onions, 1 yellow pepper, 5 tomatoes, 5 apples, 3 oranges, 6 bananas, 2 btls of some sort of fizzy drink :-D