ARTISTS
   The 5 members of the Tapestry-group ARAKNE

Randi Heitmann Hjorth, born 06. 05 1948, has been working with textiles since she ended her education at 'Bergen Kunsthåndverksskole' in 1972. Her art work is mainly related to tapestry. She has had several major and minor commissions for public buildings. The last few years she has also had commissions for various ecclesiastical textiles. Her visual language is abstract/symbolical, often with recognizable representative elements.

STATEMENT
I am engaged with what's on in society at present and like to focus on what I think deserves to be highlighted. I like to comment upon present events and circumstances, and wish to tell something in each piece of work. Though my visual language may be abstract, there is always a story behind.

To emphasize the expression in my work, I have in addition to weaving also used textile print, etching and embroidery. These techniques are mainly found in my ecclesiastical works, and then often in combination with tapestry.

Mette Norgård Handberg was born 28. 09 1944 in Bergen. She had her art education at Bergen Kunsthåndverksskole and moved to Trondheim in 1968. Mette mainly works with tapestry, but has also been freelance knitting designer for several companies. Among these are Dale of Norway and Selbu Husflid. Around 1977 - 82, she had commissions for ecclesiastical textiles. Especially to be mentioned are Strindheim Church and Nidaros Cathedral.

STATEMENT
In tapestry I work with traditional gobelin technique, even though it does not always look like that. In some tapestries tiny mirrors are fitted in. These makes surprising effects when they are hit by light. These mirror effects together with variations in fibres (glossy/not glossy), tufts and metal strings create the expressions I aim at. I am interested in shapes found in nature, both what's alive and what just exists. My subjects often have humor with stinger in it. I wish to indicate without taking up a position.
My knitting designs usually are Norwegian, more Norwegian, most Norwegian...

Kamme Greiff, born 29. 07 1947, has her background from Norwegian traditional weaving, with roots in folk art and particularly in 'Meråker Tapersties' which she got to know during her childhood in Meråker(Trøndelag, Mid-Norway). She had her art education in Germany and Norway, and has bees working at her own studio since 1975.

She has had many commissions, and her tapestries are to be seen in both public and private collections. Kamme's artwork is colourful. She expresses herself in a two-dimentional visual language, which is neither purely abstract nor figurative, but somewhere in between the two.

STATEMENT
In my work as a tapestry artist I am fascinated and inspired by the manifold global cultural heritage, but I also focus on contemporaneous events. I like to tell stories about relations and incidents that attract my mind. I often make series of tapestries touching the same subject, expressing myself in ornaments, coulors and symbols. In an abstract visual language I am, at present, concentrating upon the protection of coral reefs, the sea as a resource and the importance of taking care of our vulnerable seascapes

Anne-Kirsti Espenes, born 19. 03. 1958, had her basic education in tapestry at Edinburg College of Art in 1978 - 80. A course in Provence gave her knowledge and skill in French gobelin. In 1997 she was given a Norwegian grant to study two months at West Dean College in England. Besides tapestry, she has for many years been working as a free lance knitting designer for Norwegian knit wool companies. She has also made two knitting books.

STATEMENT
My wish is to emphasize and aim at the unique quality that makes tapestry different from other art forms. Texture and structure are concepts that describe the tactile and physical solidity that characterizes woven pieces. Colour adds strenght to the genuine personal aspects in my work. I often start with a simpel sketch and an idea, but the sketch will never become more than a guide. The idea is realised by weft being put into the warp.
Most of the knitwear I design, I also work out the whole pattern for in, several sizes. It is always encouraging and inspiring to see somebody wearing a knitted garment that I have designed. I like teaching and do courses in tapestry and knitting.