1)   Greenham Common Sculpture  The winners are...  Sculpture, Spring issue 1998

        by Colette Bailey.  The winning entry Changes was installed in the summer of 2010.

 

       

 

2)    UMHVERFI Í VERKI, VERK Í UMHVERFI / THE SITE WITHIN THE SITE WITHOUT 

        Reflection on the art of Gudrun Nielsen. The Art Section "Menning og Listir" Frettabladid, Iceland 17.10.2009

        Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson.

 

       

     

3)    Japanstraumur / Japan Current 

          Catalogue, Japanese Teahouse Series 2005 - 2009 Solo Exhibition "Sculpture and Wall Work".  Gallerí Sævars Karls Reykjavík 17. -  30.October 2009.  Text by Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson.

 

       

 

4)    Heart Head and Hands Sculpture in the Garden exhibition, Harold Martin Botanic Garden
      University of Leicester, England. Catalogue text "Labyrinth" by Markús Þór Andrésson 27.June 2010.

 

       

 

4)   Gudrun Nielsen Site Specific Sculptures and other work 2009 - 2010 leaflet for the exhibition European Sculpture, Difference & Diversity, Grugliasco, Italy 16.September 2010 "Labrynth" text by Markús Þór Andrésson.   Included in the leaflet, text by Aðalstein Ingólfsson and Julian May.

     

          

 

5)    'Changes' - the winning design of Greenham Common Trust's international sculpture competition - has taken pride of place at the entrance to New Greenham Park. Greenham Common Trust news 21.July 2010 press release by Julian May.

 

    

 

6)    Changes New Greenham Park Catalogue text "Changes" by Markús Þór Andrésson 24.September.  Included text by Julian May Review / 5.

 

      

 

7)     Listamaður mánaðarins / Artist of the month  Guðrún Nielsen. Læknablaðið / The Icelandic Medical Journal issue 10 Vol 96.  Cover  p.595,  Markús Þór Andrésson.

 

       

 

8)     Text from the Catalogue for the exhibition: european sculpture,  Difference & Diversity organized by SCULPTURE NETWORK & martin - MARTINI ARTE INTERNAZIONALE by Patrizia Bottallo  curator martin - Martini Arte Internazionale, Turin (IT)   Marc Wellmann curatore/curator of the Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin (D)  Miranda MacPhail curatore/curator of the Gori Collection, Pistoia (IT) 16.September 2010

 

          

 

9)    Statement of what a drawing means to me Gudrun Nielsen 23.March 2011

 Detail, Borrowed View 2011 conceptual work for a sculpture in progress Drawing Symposium Huddersfield University

21.-28th August

 

         

 

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 1) 

            Sculpture, Spring issue 1998 text by Colette Bailey 

 

 Greenham Common

 

 

 

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2) 

 

          Fréttablaðið Iceland 17.October 2009 text by Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson

UMHVERFI Í VERKI, VERK Í UMHVERFI

Hugleiðingar um myndlist Guðrúnar Nielsen

 

Það er gömul saga og ný að listamenn þurfa ekki að vera ýkja lengi að heiman til að fenni yfir það rykti sem þeir hafa skapað sér, nema þá að útivist þeirra reynist ein samfelld frægðarför. Segja má að Guðrún Nielsen myndlistarmaður hafi verið fjarri heimahögum í tvöföldum skilningi; hún hefur verið við nám og störf í Bretlandi í fjórtán ár og í ofanálag hefur hún kosið að rækta það afbrigði þvívíddarlistar sem verið hefur nokkuð svo útundan í íslenskri myndlist hin síðari ár, nefnilega formhyggju með mínímalísku eða konstrúktífísku ívafi; ekki er úr vegi að nefna verk þeirra Hallsteins Sigurðssonar og Sigrúnar Ólafsdóttur, nú í Þýskalandi, í þessu samhengi.

Á hinn bóginn hefur Guðrún ávaxtað sitt listræna pund prýðilega í bresku skúlptúrumhverfi, enda er fyrir hendi þar í landi löng og sterk hefð fyrir módernískri þrívíddarlist af ýmsu tagi, allt frá fígúratífum bronsskúlptúr upp í staðbundnar innsetningar úr varanlegum efnum, og hefur þessi hefð hvergi látið undan síga fyrir nýrri afbrigðum þrívíddartjáningar, eins og gerðist hér heima. Í tímans rás hefði vissulega hefði verið full ástæða til að staldra við og gera viðvart um ýmsa upphefð sem Guðrún hefur hlotið  í Bretlandi. Þar má nefna samkeppnirnar sem hún hefur ýmist unnið eða hlotið margháttaðar viðurkenningar fyrir, verk hennar á opinberum vettvangi eða í eigu opinberra aðila í Bretlandi – tæplega 30 metra langt verðlaunaverk eftir hana frá 1998 mun rísa við Greenham Common innan tíðar – og ekki síst frama hennar innan samtaka breskra myndhöggvara (Royal Society of British Sculptors), sem buðu henni fulla aðild, fellowship,  árið 2001. Þess má geta að aðeins lítill hluti þeirra myndhöggvara Í Bretlandi sem sækja um inngöngu er boðið að ganga í samtökin.

Tvennt er það sem án efa hefur sett varanlegt mark á viðhorf Guðrúnar til þrívíddarlistar, nærri tíu ára starfsferill hennar sem tækniteiknari hjá Fjarhitun – hún hóf ekki myndlistarnám fyrr en hún var komin á fertugsaldur – og kennarar hennar við skúlptúrdeild Myndlista-og handíðaskólans á árunum 1985-89, Ungverjinn Imre Kocis og Pétur Bjarnason, sá síðarnefndi nýkominn úr námi í bronssteypu í Belgíu. Báðir voru – og eru - þeir miklir verkmenn, gæddir ríkulegri efniskennd. Báðir voru aukinheldur hallir undir módernísk gildi í þrívíddarlist fremur en þá tilraunastarfsemi sem þá átti sér stað í svokallaðri „Deild í mótun“ annars staðar innan veggja Myndlista-og handíðaskólans. Listrænt innræti Guðrúnar kemur glöggt fram í lokaverkefni hennar við skólann, hrein og tær tilbrigði úr gifsi við þrjú frumform rúmfræðinnar, hring, þríhyrning og keilu.“Ég hafði þá um nokkurt skeið lagt sérstaka áherslu á jafnvægi og hreyfingu forma af þessu tagi,“ segir Guðrún í viðtali.

 

Myndvæðing almannarýmis

Framhaldsnám Guðrúnar í Lundúnum, fyrst við Chelsea College of Art and Design 1990-92 og séstaklega mastersnám hennar við byggingarlistardeild East London háskólans 1994-95, varð til að þroska myndlistarleg viðhorf hennar til muna og veita henni innsýn í veröld „opinberrar myndlistar“ í Bretlandi, ef svo má að orði komast. Eins og áður er nefnt  eiga Bretar sé langa hefð fyrir notkun þrívíðra listaverka á almannafæri og hafa fjölmargir aðilar, opinberir og óopinberir, milligöngu um „myndvæðingu“ skemmtigarða, ríkisrekinna stofnana sem og stórra einkarekinna fyrirtækja. Chelsea listaskólinn lagði mikla áherslu á samvinnu frjálsrar myndlistardeildar og þeirrar deildar sem hafði með höndum allrahanda umhverfismótun,veggmyndahönnun jafnt sem mótun opins rýmis á almannafæri, hafði síðan milligöngu um þátttöku efnilegra nemenda í samkeppnum um listaverk á almannafæri. Það var eins og við manninn mælt; við lok náms í Chelsea skólanum, 1992, hafði Guðrún dregist á að taka þátt í hvorki fleiri né færri en fimm samsýningum og samkeppnum.

Á sama tíma varð Guðrúnu vel ágengt með útskriftarverkefni sítt fyrir Chelsea skólann, því verk hennar Wheel of Progress, hringlaga strúktúr á láréttu tannhjóli, 16.80 metra löngu, fékkst sett upp við Hönnunarsafnið í Lundúnum í tengslum við norræna hönnunarsýningu sem þar var haldin árið 1992. „Það er áberandi“ segir Guðrún þegar hún lítur til baka,“ hve oft ég nota hringformið sem ég var alltaf að teikna þegar ég var hjá Fjarhitun í gamla daga.“ Verkið við Hönnunarsafnið þótti afar vel heppnað og í takt við þá starfsemi sem fór fram í safninu og fór svo að þegar sýningunni lauk bauð stjórn safnsins Guðrúnu að setja verkið upp til frambúðar, svo fremi sem fjársterkir aðilar fengjust til að kosta bronssteypu þess . Ekki tókst að afla þess fjárs og því varð ekkert úr varanlegri uppsetningu „Framfarahjólsins“ við Hönnunarsafnið.

Eins og áður er nefnt hélt Guðrún áfram námi í skúlptúr-og umhverfisfræðum í arkitektúrdeild háskólans í East London, en þetta er eins árs nám, ætlað nemendum úr lista-og hönnunargeiranum. Þar reynir enn á hæfileika listamanna til að laga viðhorf sín að þörfum arkitekta og annarra sérfræðinga á sviði umhverfis-og landslagshönnunar. Þarna var nemendum m.a. uppálagt að vinna skúlptúrverkefni í tengslum við ýmiss mannvirki og menningarlandslag í austurhluta Lundúnaborgar. Eitt af verkefnum Guðrúnar var að búa til drög að þrívíddarverki sem tengdist flóðavörnunum við Thames-fljót.

Segja má að þetta nám hafi endanlega sannfært Guðrúnu um þjóðfélagslegt hlutverk þrívíddarlistar og nauðsyn þess að beintengja opinber þrívíddarverk ævinlega við nánasta umhverfi sitt, formrænt, hugmyndalega og sögulega. Hún er því ekki mikið fyrir að framleiða lítil þrívíddarverk til heimilisbrúks. Það gefur auga leið að sjálf laðast hún fyrst og fremst að verkum þeirra listamanna sem mest hafa látið að sér kveða á vettvangi svokallaðra „site-specific“ þrívíddarverka: umhverfistengdum verkum Íslandsvinarins Richards Serra, makalausu „húsi“ Rachel Whiteread, stærri verkum Anish Kapoor og loks að þeim verkum Anthony Caro sem bera mestan keim af arkitektúr. Sjálfsagt mætti leiða að því líkur að nýlegt verk Guðrúnar, Skylight (þakgluggi/himinskin), samstæða átta hárra pýramíða á hvolfi, sem yfirskyggja hvern áhorfanda sem freistar inngöngu í verkið, sé öðrum þræði eins konar hylling til Richards Serra, sem einmitt er þekktur fyrir að setja saman háreistar , níðþungar þar með mátulega „hættulegar“ stálplötur.

 

Japönsk áhrif

Of langt mál væri að telja upp þau verkefni sem Guðrún hefur tekist á hendur síðan hún lauk námi árið 1995, jafnt í tengslum við samkeppnir sem stærri sýningar. Af lýsingum og ljósmyndum að dæma er það þó tvennt sem einkennir öll þessi verkefni; eru þá væntanlega eins konar höfundareinkenni hennar. Annars vegar er klárlega næmi hennar fyrir sérkennum og sögu þess umhverfis sem henni er uppálagt að vinna fyrir og hæfileiki hennar til að finna þessum sérkennum og sögu myndrænt mótvægi við hæfi. Í svokallaðri „Cleveland Lakes Bird Hide Competition“ í Vestur-Englandi gerði Guðrún tillögu að þrívíddarverki í formi tveggja hæða byggingar, þar sem efniviðurinn var steinn, timbur og pressaður leir úr héraðinu. Hluti af þessari tillögu var svokallaður „serpentine veggur“, ævagamalt enskt fyrirbæri, en breski listamaðurinn Andy Goldsworthy hefur einnig notað hann í a.m.k. einu verka sinna.

En lausnir Guðrúnar eru ekki alltaf eftir bókinni, því í mörgum tilfellum lætur hún hið kunnuglega og framandlega slá neista hvort af öðru, „endurspegla fjarlæga sögu“, svo notuð séu orð hennar sjálfrar. Í grasagarði háskólans í Leicester brá hún á það ráð að reisa eins konar „óvirkt“ japanskt tehús, en þá hafði hún orðið fyrir mikilli hugljómun í Japansferðum með manni sínum árin 2003 og 2005. Japansáhrifin nýtti hún sér til enn frekari landvinninga, þau urðu kveikjan að sýningu að öðru „óvirku“ tehúsi í Galleríi Sævars Karls árið 2005 og japönsku tegarðshliði – Amigasamon -  í Abbey House Gardens í Malmesbury árið 2007. Loks má geta um nýlegt (2008) þrívíddarverk Guðrúnar úr tré fyrir japanskan garð í Bretlandi, gert í japönskum stíl með hangandi „Obi“ lindum.

Raunar má segja að Guðrún hafi verið komin til Japans í huganum áður en hún kom þangað í eigin persónu, ef svo má segja, því áðurnefnt verðlaunaverk hennar Changes frá 1998, gert fyrir Greenham Common svæðið, er í eðli sínu risavaxið tilbrigði um japanskan origami pappírsskúlptúr af herþotu. Þessi Japansáhrif tengjast öðru höfundareinkenni Guðrúnar, sem vonandi skín í gegnum allt sem hér hefur verið sagt um hana, nefnilega viðvarandi áhuga hennar á hreinum og klárum formum og hlutföllum, öllu því sem stuðlar að góðu innbyrðis skipulagi, léttleika, jafnvægi og samspili, jafnt utan verks sem innan. Eins og margir vita er þetta einmitt einkenni á japanskri þrívíddarmótun, eins og hún birtist t.d. í verkum nútíma arkitekta þar í landi. Þessu fylgir sparneytni í efnisnotkun, en það er einnig viðhorf sem stendur Guðrúnu nærri.

Guðrún hefur verið búsett á Íslandi frá 2003 og verður fróðlegt að fylgjast með því hvort henni tekst að afla hugmyndum sínum um umhverfistengd þrívíddarverk stuðnings í íslensku myndlistarumhverfi. Alltént hefur hún sambönd sín í Bretland upp á að hlaupa, en þar hefur hún áfram aðgang að vinnuaðstöðu og verkefnum.

 

2)

         Fréttablaðið Iceland 17.October 2009 text by Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson   

THE SITE WITHIN, THE SITE WITHOUT

Reflections on the art of Guðrún Nielsen

 

It is an old adage that an artist doesn´t have to stay away from his native soil for very long before his local reputation begins to pall, unless his sojourn abroad turns into an unmitigated triumph. Icelandic sculptor Guðrún Nielsen has been away from her native soil in a twofold sense. She has been studying and working in Britain for a period of fourteen years; in addition she has chosen to align herself with the kind of three-dimensional art that has been out of fashion in the Icelandic art world for awhile, namely what might be called a modernist-based formalism with minimalist or constructivist overtones, exemplified by the work of British-trained  Hallsteinn Sigurðsson and Germany-based Sigrún Ólafsdóttir.

However, Guðrún has made good as an artist in the world of British environmental sculpture, which boasts of a long tradition encompassing everything from figurative bronzes for public gardens to permanent site specific installations. This is a tradition that has in no way yielded to newer forms of three-dimensional art, as happened in Iceland. Throughout the fourteen years Guðrún spent in Britain, there was certainly ample reason to report on the many honours and assignments that she received there, the many sculpture competitions that she has entered, the favourable mentions and the prizes, the sculptures now in the public domain in Britain – a 30 metre long prize-winning sculpture of hers from 1998 will soon be installed at Greenham Common. Not to mention Guðrún´s acceptance by the Royal Society of British Sculptors, which offered her a fellowship in 2001. It should be added that only a limited number of sculptors working in Britain are ever offered a fellowship by that august body.

Two factors have probably contributed decisively to Guðrún´s development as a sculptor, on the one hand her ten years of work as a technical draughtsman at the Fjarhitun Thermal Engineering Company – she did not enter art school until her thirties – the other being the calibre of her teachers at the sculpture department of the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts in 1985-89, Hungarian artist Imre Kocsis and bronze specialist Pétur Bjarnason, newly graduated from a Belgian art academy. Both of these artists were – and are – skillful professionals with a hands-on approach and a healthy respect for the properties of the sculpture material. Both were also more sympathetic to the modernist sculptural canon than the experimental attitude then prevailing in the ICAC´s so-called „progressive department“. Guðrún´s graduate piece shows clearly where her own sympathies lie, for its is a three-dimensional variation on the three basic forms of geometry, the circle, the triangle and the cone, made out of plaster of Paris. „I had for some time been studying the internal balance and movement of forms of this type,“ she said in a later interview.

 

The Visual Empowerment of Public Space

Guðrún´s studies in London, first at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in 1990-92, and especially her postgraduate studies at the department of architecture at the University of East London 1994-95, served to consolidate and mature her artistic resolve, in addition to giving her an insight into the world of „public art“ in Britain. As previously mentioned, modern Britain has long excelled in the placement of sculptures in the public domain. They are sponsored by official as well as private organizations, which see it as their task to provide public spaces, be it parks, government institutions or private companies with a prominent public profile, with a visual focal point of one type or another, for enjoyment or enlightenment. Chelsea College of Art and Design specially emphasized the cooperation between its art department and its department of environmental studies and public decoration, and made a point of encouraging its students to enter competitions for public sculptures. They were quick to perceive Guðrún´s abilities, and by the end of her studies in Chelsea, 1992, she had been persuaded to take part in no fewer than five competitions and/or group exhibitions.

At the same time Guðrún enjoyed a measure of success with her graduation piece from Chelsea, the large Wheel of Progress, a circular structure placed on a horizontal grid of some 16.80 metres. Shortly after it had been finished ,permission was granted to place itoutside the Design Museum in London in connection with a show of Scandinavian design. „I always seem to go back to circular forms of the type I was constantly drawing when I worked for Fjarhitun Engineering“, Guðrún reminisces. Her Wheel at the Design Museum seemed to successfully bridge the gap between art and design, the public liked it, and at the end of the Scandinavian design show the board of the museum offered Guðrún a permanent placement of her piece, if she could procure sufficent funds to have it cast in bronze. Needless to say this was beyond the capabilities of the ordinary art student, even a mature one, so this opportunity unfortunately passed Guðrún by.

As previously mentioned Guðrún then entered a one-year course in sculpture and environmental studies in the architecture department of the University of East London. This is a course attuned to the needs of students from both the arts and design fields, training them to work with architects and environmental and landscaping specialists. The students were given sculpture projects centering on the urban environment and the cultural landscape of the eastern London area. One of Guðrún´s projects was to come up with a proposal for an environmental piece that related to the floodgates on the River Thames.

It is fair to say that these studies convinced Guðrún of the social role of environmental sculpture and of the necessity of optimum placement, i.e. the linkage of public sculptures with their immediate environment, formally, conceptually and historically. Thus Guðrún is not one to produce small-scale sculptures for the home. Consequently, she herself is most attracted to the works of artists known for their site-specific sculptures: the larger environmental pieces by Richard Serra, whose work can now also be found in Iceland, Rachel Whiteread´s amazing „house“, the larger pieces by Anish Kapoor and Anthony Caro´s sculptures with an architectural slant. It could probably be argued that Guðrún´s recent piece entitled Skylight, a set of eight large-scale and upside-down pyramids which loom threateningly over those bold enough to enter into it, is a homage of sorts to Richard Serra, who is known for the precarious balance of the huge plates of steel that he uses in many of his public works.

 

The Japan Factor

Guðrún has entered dozens of competitions for public sculpture since she finished her studies in 1995. They are of a varying type and size, but judging from descriptions and photographs of these pieces, there are two important things that they seem to have in common, which in turn would constitute the fundamentals of her „style“. On the one hand there is her sensitivity to the characteristics and history of the environment where her sculptures are to be placed,  and her ability to come up with visual counterpoints to these features. For the so-called „Cleveland Lakes Bird Hide Competition“ in the west of England, Guðrun presented a proposal for a three-dimensional piece in the form of a two-storey building out of local timber and stone. The proposal included a reference to the ancient serpentine wall, also found locally. British artist Andy Goldsworthy has also used this type of wall in one of his environmental pieces.

Guðrún´s proposals are seldom predictable. In many instances she manages to engineer a creative clash between the familiar and the unfamiliar. She is particularly fond of what she calls the „incorporation of faraway features“ into her work. In the Botanical Gardens of he University of Leicester she constructed a „non-functioning“ Japanese teahouse, for by then she had been greatly impressed by Japan during two trips with her husband in 2003 and 2005. The „Japan factor“ emerges in subsequent pieces, for instance in another „non-functioning“ teahouse in the Saevar Karl Gallery in Reykjavik in 2005 and a Japanese tea garden gate, Amigasamon, erected in the Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury in 2007. One of Guðrún´s most recent pieces (2008) is a wooden construction for a Japanese garden in Britain, designed in a traditional Japanese manner and incorporating Obi banners.

In actual fact, Guðrún had probably made the journey to Japan mentally before going there physically, so to say, for her prize-winning piece Changes (1998), destined for Greenham Common, is essentially a series of gigantic Japanese origami pieces showing a military jet in the process of deconstruction.

The „Japan factor“ should be seen in the context of the second aspect of Guðrún´s „style“, which has been touched on briefly in discussions on her individual pieces, namely her enduring interest in clear and concise forms and proportions, and in qualities such as lightness and harmony, in short, everything that contributes to the optimum balance of elements within the work at hand as well as the environment without. These are qualities traditionally associated with the Japanese attitude to mass and space, as seen in the work of their most prominent architects. A fundamental aspect of this attitude is a certain spareness with regard to materials, which is also something that Guðrún subscribes to.

Guðrún has been back in Iceland since 2003. It will be interesting to follow her progress within the small and tightly-knit Icelandic art world, to see whether she will be able to put into practice her ideas about environmental sculpture. In any case, she still has her contacts, assignments, studio space – and her reputation - in the UK to fall back on.

 

 

 

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3) 

            Catalogue 17.October 2009 text by Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson

 Gudrun Nielsen   Japanese Teahouse Series 2005 - 2009 

 Japansstraumur

 

Á undanförnum árum hefur Japan verið ofarlega í huga Guðrúnar Nielsen myndhöggvara, og tengist viðvarandi áhuga hennar á hreinum og klárum formum og hlutföllum, eiginleikum á borð við léttleika og jafnvægi og öllu því sem stuðlar að góðu innbyrðis skipulagi hlutanna. Þetta eru einmitt einkenni á umhverfis-og þrívíddarmótun í Japan, eins og hún birtist jafnt í fornum byggingum sem nútíma arkitektúr þar í landi. Þessu fylgir sparneytni í efnisnotkun, en það er einnig viðhorf sem stendur Guðrúnu nærri.

Guðrún kom fyrst til Japan árið 2003 og svo aftur tveimur árum seinna. Hins vegar má segja að hún hafi verið komin þangað í huganum nokkru fyrr, því árið 1998 hlaut hún verðlaun fyrir umfangsmikið umhverfisverk með japönsku sniði við gömlu herstöðina á Greenham Common, þar sem konur börðust árum saman fyrir upprætingu kjarnorkuvopna. Verkið, sem nefnist Changes, er risavaxið tilbrigði um japanskan origami pappírsskúlptúr af herþotu, sem smám saman er brotinn upp í frumeindir sínar.

Stuttu eftir förina til Japan 2003 var Guðrún fengin til að gera þrívíddarverk fyrir grasagarð háskólans í Leicester, og brá hún þá á það ráð að reysa þar tilbrigði um „óvirkt“ japanskt tehús. Það varð síðan kveikjan að öðru slíku tehúsi í Galleríi Sævars Karls árið 2005, svo og að japönsku tegarðshliði – Amigasamon – í Abbey House Gardens í Malmesbury árið 2007. Loks má geta um nýlegt (2008) þrívíddarverk Guðrúnar úr tré fyrir japanskan garð í Bretlandi, gert í japönskum stíl með hangandi Obi lindum.

Í öllum tilfellum lítur Guðrún á hina japönsku frumþætti verkanna sem hráefni fremur en hyllingu fjarlægrar og heillandi menningar. Framandleiki þeirra er henni tæki til að fá áhorfendur til að gaumgæfa tengsl sín við rými og efnivið með nýjum hætti, óbundnir af viðteknum „vestrænum“ viðhorfum til þessara þátta.

 

3) 

           Catalogue 17.October 2009 text by Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson 

Gudrun Nielsen   Japanese Teahouse Series 2005 - 2009 

 Japan Current

 

In recent years sculptor Guðrún Nielsen has been fascinated with all things Japanese, which ties in with her enduring interest in clear and concise forms and proportions and qualities such as lightness and harmony, in short everything that contributes to the optimum balance of elements within the work at hand as well as the world without. These are qualities associated with the Japanese attitude to mass and space, as seen in their oldest buildings as well as their recent architecture. A fundamental aspect of this attitude is certain spareness with regard to materials, which is also an attitude that Guðrún subscribes to.

Guðrún first came to Japan in 2003 and again two years later. In actual fact, she had probably made the journey to Japan mentally before going there in person. In 1998 she was give a prize for a large-scale environmental work with a Japanese slant to be place by the now defunct Greenham Common airfield, where women protested for years against nuclear proliferation.  The work, entitled Changes, is essentially a set of gigantic origami pieces showing a military jet in the process of deconstruction.

Shortly after her second trip to Japan Guðrún constructed a variation on a „non-functioning“ teahouse for the Botanical Gardens of the University of Leicester. The Japanese influence emerges in subsequent pieces, for instance in another „non-functioning“ teahouse in the Saevar Karl Gallery in Reykjavik in 2005 and a Japanese tea garden gate, Amigasamon, erected in the Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury in 2007. One of Guðrún´s most recent works (2008) is a wooden construction for a Japanese garden in Britain, designed in a traditional manner and incorporating traditional Obi banners.

In all of these works Guðrún looks upon their Japanese fundamentals as raw material, rather than a homage to a distant and fascinating culture. She uses their „foreignness“ as a kind of alienation effect, as a method of forcing viewers to reexamine their views on space and the material world, unfettered by traditional western attitudes to these entities.

 

 

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 4) 

               Catalogue 27.June, Leaflet 16.Sept. 2010 text by Markús Þór Andrésson 

 

Heart Head and Hands Sculpture in the Garden 

GN Site Specific Sculpture and other work  2009 - 2010

 

Labyrinth 2010

 

 

 

 

The work of Gudrun Nielsen attempts to thwart people’s routine sense for their surroundings. We project the identity of a place onto it, depending on recognition and experience. Nielsen contests this detached association of the known with the new. Drawing on geometry and reflecting on Japanese aesthetics, she develops ways to reinvigorate attentiveness. Her background studies in the relationship of art and architecture motivate her position for the sculpture, Labyrinth. She introduces a maze in the Botanic Garden, a structure that momentarily choreographs the viewer’s movements and experience, diverting the focus points and resisting the notion of a full overview. A subtle moment of indeterminacy alerts our senses and gives way to a conscious engagement with the immediate environment.

 

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 5) 

              Press release, text by Julian May

July 21st 2010     New Sculpture Takes Pride of Place at the Entrance to New Greenham Park  'Changes' - the winning design of Greenham Common Trust's international sculpture competition - has taken pride of place at the entrance to New Greenham Park. After buying Greenham Common and creating a business park on the former military and nuclear airbase, the Trust commissioned the Royal British Society of Sculptors to hold an international competition in 1998 to create three pieces of public artwork. Icelandic artist Gudrun Nielsen's design was chosen from over 150 international entries to create the site specific piece of artwork at the entrance to the park. The first piece of artwork, commissioned as part of the same competition, was Michael Kenney's 'Broken Symmetry', which was unveiled at the entrance to the Enterprise Centre at New Greenham Park in December 1999 by Beatles drummer Ringo Star. Now after 12 years of overcoming design, planning and site issues 'Changes' is finally in place. The piece symbolises the successful transition of Greenham Common, which celebrated its 10th anniversary of reopening this year. The military buildings on the former airbase are now a business park which, thanks to the Trust, has generated over £13m in grant aid to the local community. The 'Changes' sculpture comprises nine individually folded cor-ten steel pieces representing the creation and dismantling of a fighter plane. Each piece is set on a concrete plinth, which includes recycled concrete and reinforcement taken from the longest runway in Europe after it was dug up to restore the common. The nine part 2x24 metre-long weathered steel sculpture is set on the grassed area at the main entrance to the business park off the A339 and is easily visible from the surrounding area. Gudrun, who has had sculptures exhibited in the Design Museum in London and the Millennium Dome as well as a site-specific water sculpture commissioned by University College London, said she was relieved and elated that 'Changes' was finally finished. "It has been an exciting journey for me and I am grateful for the support of Stuart Tagg and Paul Craggs from Greenham Common Trust. I would also like to thank my husband who has always been at my side and Barry Goillau and his team from Benson-Sedgwick Engineering in Dagenham, who has done a fantastic job fabricating my work," she said. "I like to do site-specific work and this is probably the ideal place to do this with the history of the common and the airbase. When I do site-specific sculptures I usually relate it to the surrounding architecture and sometimes landscape. But in this case it was the military history which formed the inspiration for the piece. In my original proposal I also wanted to use recycled material from the old airfield in the plinths and for me it makes all the difference." Gudrun, who lives in Kópavogur, a suburb of Reykjavík, with her husband Vilmundur Gudnason, added: "Both the form and name 'Changes' reflects the history of Greenham Common Airbase, like a simple origami paper fold. It expresses the folding and unfolding of the past. At one end of the nine-part steel sculpture, the form is like unfolded paper, that then folds further step by step on the concrete plinths into a fighter plane and unfolds again - an echo of the history of the former military base." Gudrun, who also has her work included in public and private art collections in England, Denmark and Iceland, chose cor-ten steel because of its rich texture and colour. "It will not need to be treated in the future because it takes care of itself. It also has a rustic colour with a hint of purple and with time the purple colour will get stronger." The sculpture is designed to stand strong in its own landscape and its geometrical forms compliment the curved soft form of the security gatehouse to the north of the sculpture. Greenham Common Trust chief executive Stuart Tagg said: "'Changes' serves as a reminder to the public of the huge restoration and transformation of a former military and nuclear airbase back to common land and the creation of a business park which not only boosts the local economy but benefits the local community. It is a very simple but poignant piece of work." Director of Benson-Sedgwick Engineering Ltd Barry Goillau, who has been involved in the project since the beginning, said he was delighted to see the work finally erected. "'Changes' is one of the first jobs I started working on 12 years ago so it has been a personal journey for me too," said Barry. "We work with artists all of the time and we have worked with Gudrun on a number of projects so it is very familiar process. It is symbolic of the ending of the first phase of the Trust. The design is based on folded sheets of paper, a bit like origami. The interesting concept is whether the sculpture depicts the creation of a plane or the dismantling of a plane? It is important in public art to have an immediate and obvious meaning but also to have layers to it. Gudrun has achieved this incredibly well with 'Changes'." Barry said he was very pleased with the finished sculpture. "It was a very interesting job to work on. We have created some new techniques in constructing the piece which are not immediately obvious. Cor-ten steel is a practical material for sculpture. It does not corrode because the oxide on the top protects the metal underneath. Each plate weathers differently so you create different colours and textures. 'Changes' will last a lifetime at least," he added. The Trust will be having a formal ceremony soon to celebrate the work, along with Johannes von Stumm's sculpture, 'The Welcome Figure', which greets visitors and staff at The Slater Centre on the business park. For more information contact Julian May on 01635 817444 or email julian@greenham-common-trust.co.uk. Greenham Common Community Trust Ltd, Liberty House, New Greenham Park, Newbury, Berkshire RG19 6HW

 

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6)   

 

            The unveiling of Changes.  Catalogue text by Markús Þór Andrésson 24.September 

 

 

 

CHANGES 2010 NEW GREENHAM PARK

 

Steel and concrete may not be among the elements that first come to mind in relation to the term ‘changes’. However, creating her public artwork with the same title, Icelandic artist Guðrún Nielsen used these very materials in a remarkable manner. Nine Cor-ten steel plates were folded differently, placed on as many concrete slabs and lined up in the New Greenham Park. Visitors can walk along the massive yet playful objects or follow them back and forth with their eyes from a distance. On each end of the line the abstract shapes are simple, becoming more elaborate in the center where one of them takes the clear form of a fighter plane. The heavy-metal origami reminds us of the fact that this park was once a military airbase and the regular sculpture plinths are in fact recycled from the debris of the old landing strip. Together with the direct material reference, the systematic growth and unfurling of the geometric shapes symbolize the park’s history of renovation and improvement.   Expressing the folding and unfolding of the past, Nielsen’s visual loop brings material life to the words of the poet  William Cowper describing the wheel of time:  ‘Still ending, and beginning still.’           

 

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7) 

 

            Læknablaðið/The Icelandic Medical Journal issue 10 Vol 96. text by Markús Þór Andrésson

 

 

LISTAMAÐUR MÁNAÐARINS / ARTIST OF THE MONTH

 

Guðrún Nielsen (f. 1951) vann fyrir nokkrum árum alþjóðlega skúlptúrsamkeppni um listaverk við inngang að New Greenham Park í Newbury í Bretlandi. Nýverið var verk hennar fullklárað og afhjúpað en það ber heitið Changes, eða Breytingar (1998-2010). Heitið vísar til sögu svæðisins þar sem verkið stendur en þar var áður umdeild herstöð breska flugherisins. Fram að síðari heimsstyrjöld var þarna um slóðir friðsælt ræktarland en í stríðinu var byggður herflugvöllur sem síðan þjónaði hernum og voru þar m.a. geymd kjarnorkuvopn á níunda áratuginum. Herstöðinni var lokað árið1993 og hefur svæðið síðan breytt um svip og þjónar nú íbúum sem útivistarsvæði auk þess sem þar er blómlegur iðn- og tæknigarður. Verk Guðrúnar samanstendur af röð níu steinstöpla og á þeim hvíla stálplötur sem brotnar eru saman eins og origami. Formin eru einföld og geometrísk á hvorum enda raðarinnar en verða flóknari þegar nær dregur miðju verksins þar sem á einum stöpli má sjá greinilega eftirmynd herþotu. Eins og skutla sem er brotin saman úr pappír og leyst í sundur á ný. Guðrún vísar ennfremur til sögunnar með því að nota í stöplana mulið efni úr gömlu flugbrautinni sem þarna var. Verkið er leikur að andstæðum þar sem listakonan teflir fram þunglamalegum efnum sem jafnframt sýna umskipti og framvindu á lifandi hátt. Þannig vísar hún til þeirrar staðreyndar að allt getur breyst, jafnvel það sem á einhverjum tíma virðist óhagganlegt eins og þvergirðingsleg stefna yfirvalda að geyma kjarnavopn í herstöðinni þrátt fyrir mikla andstöðu. Þau mótmæli hafa verið skráð á spjöld sögunnar og má rekja til hóps kvenna sem barðist fyrir lífi á jörð og gegn kjarnavopnum. Fagurfræði Guðrúnar nýtur sín í þessum stóra skúlptúr en í verkum hennar má greina áhrif frá japönskum efnum og formum jafnframt því sem hún byggir á bakgrunni sínum í rannsóknum á tengslum myndlistar og byggingarlistar. Verkin sem hún sýnir gjarnan í opinberu rými eru þannig úr garði gerð að áhorfendur geta virt þau fyrir sér úr fjarlægð en einnig gengið inn í þau og upplifað þannig á annan hátt. Changes mun standa um ókomna tíð sem minnisvarði um óstöðvandi framrás tímans en jafnfram vísa til hringrásar og endurtekningar sögunnar.

 

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 8) 

             Text from the Catalogue for the exhibition: european sculpture,  Difference & Diversity organized by SCULPTURE NETWORK & martin - MARTINI ARTE INTERNAZIONALE 16.September 2010            

 

european sculpture

Difference

&Diversity

 

 

Through a selection of artists this exhibition intends to illustrate the

current position of European contemporary sculpture, by no means

claiming to be exhaustive, but aiming to present a realistic panorama

of “making sculpture” in Europe over recent years. The exhibition

is partly tied to the important inheritance of the late Twentieth

Century and partly directed towards the search for a new creative dimension.

A map of experiences representing the different countries

of the invited artists that, as curator of the exhibition, led me not to

impose a theme, since it would certainly have constrained the artists,

or worse, would have prevented some of them from participating.

 

“Difference and Diversity”: this subheading is the key to understanding

the criteria that led to this selection of 30 sculptors from all over

Europe. Difference and diversity in sculptural technique, in materials

used, in compositional approach, in creative conception: all variables

that characterise this extraordinary selection of 150 works, exhibited in

Italy for the first time. Protean and personal visions of contemporary

sculpture, fruit of fantasy, inventiveness, creativity and imagination.

 

Fantasy is perhaps the most free of our intellectual faculties, it does

not take into account the feasibility or functionality of an object, it

can permit itself to be incredible and impossible. I believe fantasy itself

is the common denominator of contemporary sculpture and the

distinctive mark of this exhibition.

 

No longer linked to the real and free from the yoke of mimesis and

figuration, sculpture nowadays becomes a test bench for different

and unusual materials or for innovative interpretations of traditional

materials. New perceptive and spatial factors gain importance, academic

affectation is by now a distant memory that has given way to

the search for innermost essence, energy beyond form. The subject reclaims

complete autonomy; it feeds off the creative force of the sculptor

and gains value through its imagination. The language of a sculpture

anchored in the past had already been declared dead by Arturo

Martini in the Forties, in so far as it no longer served the functions for

which it had been created and he instead praised sculpture that was

born from clay simply being squeezed in the sculptor’s hands.

 

If from a conceptual point of view the artist is now free to render the

fruit of their imagination concrete and visible through sculpture,

from a practical point of view they must confront the subject, herein

lies their ability. The total liberty of thought that distinguishes the

creative moment vanishes in the instant that the work is created,

when the constraints imposed by the means, the materials and the

numerous factors that limit creation present themselves. This obstacle

is overcome thanks to the artist’s ability to interrelate what they

know and that which pushes them to discover new means or materials

that permit them to invent new technical solutions and to reach

new communicative goals.

 

The conceptual passage from statue to sculpture, from Marcel Duchamp

onwards, made way for the idea that every material or every

completed object is suitable for making sculpture, considering it

above all a subject. The incessant experimental process is therefore

inevitable, the constantly renewed search for different means and

materials to sculpt with. Today the level of experimentation and the

manifold expressive possibilities of new materials are necessary for

artists who are called to frenetic productivity, expression of a rapid

and ever changing reality.

 

This is not devoid of consequences. Ever more attracted by plastic

compounds, or even by perishable materials, to the detriment of

materials like bronze or marble for example, which are longer lasting

and more suited for leaving a mark on time, the result sometimes

leads to extraordinary works but whose temporary nature

renders them provisional and precarious.

 

At the same time, thanks to the infinite creative opportunities allowed

by new materials, contemporary sculpture is defined by its

perceptual multidimensionality and free gestural expressiveness capable

of arousing emotions and stimulating our imagination.  

Patrizia Bottallo  curator martin - Martini Arte Internazionale, Turin (IT)     

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The art form designated as sculpture has experienced an enormous

conceptional expansion within the last fifty years. It has covered

since the 1960’s all artistic compositions, settings and actions within

three-dimensional space. This includes performances, installations

in space, Land Art, Environment or Social Intervention, and even architecture

such as Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

 

Within this extreme scope of the category sculpture there remains

yet a hard core, so to speak an essential nucleus which has not lost

its fascination but has recently even gained in significance. The material,

haptic presence of sculptural works as a part of our immediate

environment is a counterforce versus the detached and volatile

world increasingly governed by the media. An encounter with sculpture

presupposes an active role of the viewer regarding the work in

its entirety, appreciating it from all sides and relating his/her own

body to the three-dimensional object.

 

As opposed to the esthetic experience of painting, video art or photography,

this includes a degree of authenticity and physical experience

which counteract, at least for a short period of time, the

simulated resemblances behind the computer monitors and touch

screens.

 

Most of the different works created by members of sculpture network

and selected by a jury for presentation in this exhibition for the

first time can be regarded under the above fundamental premises.

Completely independent of esthetic or thematic aspects, they unify

a declared dedication to three-dimensional physical forms, as well

as to high standards of artistic craftsmanship. Their diversity reflects

the various traditions within the ten European countries (Germany,

Italy, Poland, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland

and Great Britain).

 

Marc Wellmann curatore/curator of the Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin (D)

 

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In the Boboli Gardens in Florence some years ago, the Iranian artist

Hossein Golba held an exhibition entitled “Diversity is a Value”. This

artist’s phrase immediately came to mind when I was invited to participate

on the jury for sculpture network’s exhibition in Turin. I am

profoundly convinced that diversity is a value in any area of human

activity, but this is especially true wherever creativity is concerned.

 

Awareness of the heterogeneous state of things opens any number

of doors; behind each one lies hidden a field of exploration as well

as a set of free choices which will influence future investigation.

Perhaps the first door to be opened is the one leading to the artist’s

self-discovery as someone who enjoys or suffers his/her status of being

“different”. Subsequent doors will be opened according to one’s

way of working and to one’s identification, in a positive or a negative

way, with the profession of a sculptor, a painter, a graphic artist, a

ballet dancer, a writer or a composer.

 

In April I received and perused the images of works by 183 artists

from some 20 different countries. On my monitor I could observe

how each of the participants presented himself/herself in an attempt

to have his/her own “voice” heard, modellinging that blank

page which is known as space. All were attracted by the risk of placing

themselves in competition with others; however, each slide spoke

of diversity: of the final artwork, obviously, but also and especially, of

the various artistic premises involved.

 

Some were able to give form to their own fantasy, whereas others

plied the outside world in search of elements essential to their threedimensional

poetry. The forms and figures illustrate the versatile

nature of creativity in our time. Although the methods of implementation,

the materials and even the type of space imagined open

onto worlds which would be impossible to explore via only a few

works (this was a necessary limitation for the current exhibition), this

procedure serves in any case to establish our gaze and to promote

a view which will be as far-reaching as possible. It is a first step in

coming to terms with the vertigo of expression, with the vast range

of emotions the artists have known how to present through the diversity

of their practice.

 

Today we are no longer allowed to conceive of all-encompassing

utopias; however, the artists seem to suggest, each in his/her own

vocabulary, that a strong affirmation of an independent and personal

vision is capable of taking us by the hand and leading us out

of this state of disorientation. Flaubert once stated that, of all the lies

told, art is the least false. In this group show, a chorus of individual

voices sings us forms which mirror the soul, each representing a significant

step in the direction of truth with its multifaceted nature.

 

Miranda MacPhail curatore/curator of the Gori Collection, Pistoia (IT)    

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 9)

          Detail, Borrowed View 2011 conceptual work for a sculpture in progress

Drawing Symposium Huddersfield University 21.-28th August

 

Statement of what a drawing means to me

Gudrun Nielsen 23.March 2011

 

For me there are two kinds of drawings.  The necessary accurate measurement working drawing, for the purpose of making a sculpture.  And then it is the drawing that pleases my mind, with the freedom of expression.

As a sculptor the first stage of the working process to make a piece of sculpture usually starts in my mind with an idea, but it can also start on paper or computer.

The idea then develops further stage by stage. When working on the computer forms can change and develop fast and easily, so different than working on paper. 

To work further on the idea and to make it real a drawing is a very helpful and necessary method in the working process.  A visual drawing is also an expression of information with lines, forms and measurement for me or others to work from. 

A measurement- or working drawing is a link in the process of making sculpture.  First the idea, then the drawing, then the model and finally the sculpture itself appears.

By making a good working drawing it can then be handed over to others to make the work without having to explain anything with words or hands.

For me there is also another kind of drawing.  For the sole purpose to please my mind after hard work.  It is still a drawing with its geometrical forms and lines.  I ad text and colour usually related to the name and form of a sculpture that I have been working on. 

This is what a drawing means to me.gn