Karin Køltzow

Some introductory lines:

In spite of the fact that since I was a very little girl I have been sculpting, painting and drawing – in school books, on edges of newspapers, on bits of wood, in sand, on stone, and later on lovely and frightening sheets of paper – I did not start as a professional artist until I was well grown up. I did try to enter The Promised Land of Art when I was nineteen; I went to France to learn the language, and one day I entered the Académie de la Grande Chaumière to do nude drawings. Without writing home. I was the eldest and had been strongly advised not to choose art as a profession.

I did my nude drawings, but that winter my father became ill and handicapped. My parents needed help. My twenties and thirties were meander running between parents, my own family, studies, and a research job. An interesting and challenging life, but at the same time a life with a deep sorrow. I had ended on the wrong shelf. So at thirtyfive I started more meander walking – art studies in Sweden during periods every year, research at the Institute of Transport Economics, and the family. When the works of the first ten years of painting and drawing were to be presented, the exhibition was transformed to ashes – a pyromaniac was terrorizing Eastern Norway. Photos had not been taken. I had nothing to show. The night after the fire I tore down wallpapers in a room in the house and painted on the walls.

Now, after many paintings and thousands of drawings, I feel grateful for a rich, challenging and unpredictable life; for what my eyes have seen and for the deep knowledge that my hands possess of materials and their possibilities. My memory is my body and my instrument for taking new steps and finding new paths. With paper or canvas as my partner. And as a last line – I believe I must be the only person in the world using a vacuum cleaner as a drawing instrument.

Background:

1960 Guest period at Académie de la Grande Chaumière and L’Ecole de Louvre, Paris. 1970-1985 Research method profiency and research work at the Institute of Transport Economics. 1975-83 Gerlesborg Konstskola och Kulturhärd, Bohuslän. 1984 Main degree in Pedagogics at the University of Oslo. 1985- Painting & drawing full time.

Solo Exhibitions (selection):

2019 The Oslo University Aula and The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra: Tryptych The Hebrides. 2012 The Town Hall of Oslo, Oslo. 2009 Igreja S. Vicente, Evora town public gallery, Portugal. 2006 The Norwegian Agricultural Museum. 2005 The Norwegian Forestry Museum. 2004 Toten Art Association. 2003 Igreja S. Vicente, Evora town public gallery, Portugal. The Winter Festival at Røros/Vinterfestspillene i Bergstaden Festival Exhibition. 2002 Oslo Concert Hall. The Millenium Jubilee of the County of Oppland/Tusenårsstedet Oppland fylke. Fredrikstad Art Association. 2001 Gallery Albin Upp. 2000 Palacio Dom Manuel, Evora Town Main Public Gallery, Portugal. Gallery Ryvarden. Toten Ecomuseum. 1999 Hardanger Classical Music Festival/The Foundation AGA-tunet. 1998 St Martin Gallery, London. Rakkestad Art Association. 1996 Anglo-Norse Society, London. Sandefjord Art Association. 1995 The Festival of Northern Norway/Festspillene i Nord-Norge. 1994 The Vesterålen/Lofoten Museum/The Festival of Melbu. 1980-90 Gallery 1814, several exhibitions.

Joint Exhibitions (selection):

2006 International CowParade Telemark. 2002 Gallery Ryvarden. 1998/1999 Gallery OBK. 1993 Tromsø Art Association. Gothenburg Museum of Art. 1992 2nd Budapest International Contemporary Prize of Fine Arts Exhibition Entitled Dynamic Compositions. 1992 Oslo Salon d’Automne. Several years: Tegnerforbundet. Several years: Oslo Open.

Public Purchases:

Statsbygg/Rikshospitalet, Skulpturparken at Bærums Verk, Troms County, Eidsvoll Community, Toten Community, Sveio Community, Evora Town Portugal, Norwegian Refugee Council.

Illustrations:

Several years The Oslo-Philharmonic concert programmes and posters. 1998 Adagio /Teatro Garcia Resende, Evora, Portugal. 2005 Frost Urstad, Global Congress PMI. 1995 CD cover Træsdal/Smebye. Several years CD covers Mathilde Grooss Viddal. Several years Annual Reports TINE/GENO, PRIOR. Several years illustrations own authorship.

Authorship (selection):

2019 Juicy Green Notes – When Charcoal Meets Music, JAS forlag AS. 2003 Trumpets & Bassoons! On Culture and Capital Cities, Emilia AS. 1994 Asphalt or violins? An Essay. Emilia AS. 2010, 2011 Heartbeat – Knowledge and Advice about How to Live with Cardiac Arrhythmia, JAS forlag. 1976-1990 25 research publications + 30 articles in Norwegian and international periodicals.

Scholarships, prizes etc:

1997 Oslo Township Cultural Scholarship. 1990 Art Council Norway Debut Scholarship. 1987 The Volvo International Traffic Safety Award. 1978 The Board’s Scholarship of the Institute of Transport Economics. Commissioned to the Council of the Oslo-Philharmonic. Commissioned to the Polytechnical Association Council for Culture and Media.

Member of the Black-and-White Artist Association TF – Tegnerforbundet. Member of the Painters’ Association NBK – Norske Billedkunstnere. Member of the Nonfiction Authors’ Association NFF – Norsk faglitterær forfatter- og oversetterforening.