Debora AlannaHafnarborg Museum Artist Residency

August 2016

For the month of August 2016, I worked in the rooftop artist residency at the Hafnarborg Museum located in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland.

Debora AlannaHafnarborg Museum studio

Daily art practice included:

• drawing with Caran d’Ache water soluble wax pastels, pen on paper.

• reading a translation of Halldór Laxness’ book, Independent People.

• writing my impressions of Iceland.

Huldufólk visited while near a bench

at the Hafnarborg residency.

Two petunia blossoms on a park bench is an unlikely placing of blooms.

I stood up, turned my back from the park furniture for a moment.

Seconds later I returned to my seat to find these two flower heads exactly where I was sitting, a

present from huldufólk.

The subsequent works, Secrets Share (diptych) were inspired by this encounter.

Secrets share [diptych]

Like huldufólk, with wily manoeuverings,bee at flowers’ bountiful, its moorage, reap

a confidence, within a surreptitious rendezvous. Linked, they share a venture that perpetuates intrinsic order.

After making the more literal blooms

of Secrets Share, this blossom erupted as a

unassailable pulse, a vibrating discharge.

Sonic Bloom

Living three stories up, I was inspired by the hidden folk living in the

rafters.

King of the Rafters was the first work I made in the Hafnarborg Residency

(subsequent slide).

I thought of Gaston Bachelard’s book,

The Poetics of Space:"Up near the roof all our thoughts

are clear. In the attic it is a pleasure to see the bare rafters of the strong

framework. Here we participate in the carpenter's solid geometry.”

Conspicuous, the king of these rafters evinced the loft of the place.

Although I cannot see huldufólk (hidden folk), I feel

their presence.

Clarity, like trust bestows a heightened experience. I trust that this King of the

Rafters was a spirited muse in my loft studio above the

Hafnarborg Museum.

King of the Rafters by Debora Alanna 2016

King of the Rafters (previous image) was the first work created during my Hafnarborg residency. This was the second time huldufólk appeared in my work. The first rendering (image right) was made during my 2013 residency in Akuryeri.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulduf%C3%B3lk

Huldufólk by Debora Alanna 2013

A-flutter is the dance, the flurry and fluster of ideas that situate in the mind, gambolling with emotions and preconceptions. Ostensibly, the associates embodied bird forms to explicate the composite of activity.

a-flutter by Debora Alanna 2016

Internal fjord by Debora Alanna 2016

Work inspired by Icelandic nature begins

with a visceral relationship.

A correspondence of shape, flow and

perspective bonds the landscape to

introspection.

There is a pull, osmosis between place and body. One flows into the other

with a mischievous ease.

Stationed at the Hafnarfjörður

fjord dock, bollocks used to

tie up fishing boats for

centuries were a tie between past and present, the

symbol of unknown

narratives, stories untold.

Bollock by Debora Alanna 2016

Conversation when sky meets land one August by Debora Alanna 2016

Conversation when sky meets land one August is the exchange between the mutable sunrise / setting sky and ocean.

Each interchange reflects, speaks to the other. Light melds, interaction occurs.

Where there is peripatetic dynamic, there is poetic dialogue.

Iceland’s craters divined depths of thought. Deep colour drenched my work.

Presence, fundamental and eternal contoured an internal landscape

Embodiment of landscape is connectivity between particular place (Iceland) and the nature of experience.

Oceans of sand, as fluid as the sea penetrated my body.

Continuous diffusion of body through land and sea by Debora Alanna 2016

How scent rallies describes the pervasive perfume of wild roses lining roadways, walks. Rose bouquet links the fragrance of my grandmother loved, used to the place of her origin, Iceland. Scent gathers and demonstrates a confluence between people and place, the present and past, with a presentment of future frolic.Cavorting, scent is an energising chorus.

How scent rallies by Debora Alanna 2016

Bearing veracity is the ancient Viking truth,

its ghostly survival vitalised in what

can be known, embodied through

Icelandic lore.

Bearing Veracity by Debora Alanna 2016

Animal Spirit emerged after travelling north to Akureyri, a brief return visit.

In Iceland, sheep roam unattended through the summer.

This work is a self portrait because I felt a kinship with the sheep I saw during my journey. I felt like an liberated wanderer, too.

Animal spirit by Debora Alanna 2016

Divining ground by Debora Alanna 2016

Divining ground is the experience of the earthly endeavour to evoke Icelandic sensibilities of conviction and reliance on supranatural that complements inherent earth born strength and fortitude. Grounding beckons divination. Divination summons authenticity.

Summer flees unravelling her mantle was begun as summer past into the alternate season in Iceland, winter. Days shortened with what seemed accelerating speed.Cold winds, sharp rain became the purcusor of imminent snow. Summer had once enveloped the land, me – its departure affected my perspective.The seasonal wrapping was being unravelled with each hour after August 20th, the end of summer (Iceland). As the days diminished, the work got darker, became another season entirely. Summer flees unravelling her mantle by Debora Alanna 2016

Þakka þér!Thank you for viewing a selection of work produced at the

Hafnarborg Museum art residency, in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland - August 2016.

Many thanks to the Hafnarborg Museum staff for their ready, congenial assistance and moral support during this project.

Warm appreciation to colleagues in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland for their cordial guidance and commeraderie.

Thanks to Pallet Kafi for their friendship and fortifying sustenance.

All works in this presentation were produced on paper of various sizes. Materials used were Caran d’Ache water soluble wax pastels and pen.

All artwork, photos, writing (unless quoted) & design, presentation produced by /©Debora Alanna.

Debora Alanna

Debora AlannaArtist in Residence

Hafnarborg MuseumHafnarfjörður Iceland

August 2016