 |
| From “Vatnið syngur” or “ The Water Sings” from the exhibition "Vatnsberinn-Fjall+Kona” 2015 by Arna Valsdóttir at Ásmundarsalur, The Dome; photograph by Pétur Thomsen |
Arna Valsdóttir is currently working at the
REITIR arts collaborative in Siglufjörður, in northern Iceland, which annually features diverse, well-known and emerging artists across various disciplines from June 24th to July 7th. As an artist, she creates video and sound installations, often using her own voice and live performance. Her 'life paintings' typically incorporate elements from physical structures with elements of the human being...or being human - as she says in this interview, they are a "portrait of a human being and a portrait of buildings human beings build". She was educated in the multi-media department of the Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht Holland. Arna has been exhibited extensively in Iceland, as well as Belgium, Holland and Germany. She has received commissions from the Icelandic Ministry of Culture, the Akureyri Culture Fund, and others, and has taught at the University of Akureyri, the VMA College of Akureyri, as well as part of the Nordic Light Festival.
In 2014, the Art Museum of Akureyri hosted an exhibition of Arna's work. She is one of the founding artists of the Factory, an artist-managed cultural center in Hjalteyri, Eyjafjördur. Arna is currently based in Akureyri, Iceland. Her website is
arnavals.net.
