Sunday 10 February 2019


Martiens Bekker – Narcoleptic Scrap Artist
Norway
2014
Mid 2014 we as a family decided to move from the UK to Norway. An opportunity presented itself and as it goes in life, we decided to act on it. We settled on invitation on a forestry-farm called Nesland in the district of Vinje, an area in Telemark with our nearest town being Åmot.

I would return working in the Forestry industry as I have a qualification therein. In short it was a mistake and the opportunity also turned out to be not what we thought it would be! It was an expensive mistake.

Being a South African citizen, I had to follow the International rules on immigration and lost my UK visa in obtaining Norwegian residency. In short it meant that unless we find funds to return to the UK, we are stuck in Norway.

In the end the mistake we made turned out not too bad after all, but later more on that. While residing on Nesland, I used some of our hosts equipment and created my first Norwegian sculpture – a hand carved out of wood. A hand reaching upward as if its owner have been swallowed up or perhaps drowning. Perhaps it was the artist in me, at that moment! (See the Nesland Hand)
I also created numerous clay sculptures while staying at Nesland.

2015

Feb 2015 Snøforming Nøkler Kube. A venue held in our Local town, Åmot, mainly privately organized by Alexander Stettin and supported by students from a German Architectural University.
Snow gets compacted into 3m x 3m x3m blocks and then carved into various forms.
April 2015, I manage to find a workshop in the basement of an unused school at Vinjar also in the district Vinje, thanks to our local Rådsmann, Anders Sandvik.

I started setting myself up in the Bomberom (Bomb Shelter) of the school and later added a steel 10m container in which I did my welding and gas related work.
Again, our Assisterende Rådsmann arranged a meeting with myself and the local waste/recycling company who gladly gave me a very reasonable contract and access to the scrapyard.
At this point I have lost almost a year in creative time and had to import my tools and equipment from Cornwall to Norway. Once ‘set up’ I started to produce art in similar insane speed as in Cornwall and South Africa.

There was however another problem. Vinje, Telemark and probably the rest of Norway is an art desert. You cannot even start to compare Norway with the UK art scene. One needs to however consider the strong traditions and the small amount of people living in Norway.

A big paradigm shift was needed, and it is still something I have not manage to short out entirely. I started to have exhibitions where ever I can, which was almost nowhere since we landed up an extremely rural part of Norway.

My wife, Amanda and I however fell in love with the Norwegian wilderness-simplicity which surrounded us, and we decide to stay and make the best of it. Both our boys were doing well at school and took learning a new language in their stride. Very proud of them!

June 2015 I staged an exhibition at a well-known traditional bakery called Mjonøy Bakkeri. Here bread is still baked using a very old Nordic method. We setup a solo exhibition in Mjonøy Bakkeri road-side shop, called Mjonøy Byg and although we had very low number s in visitors, I still managed to sell. Some pieces went off to the Netherlands and Germany! (Photos…)

December 2015, I performed a solo-popup exhibition in a vacant shop in the only shopping center of our town Åmot. It proved to have been a reasonable success and I had some significant sales, but also some valued exposure.

The December popup exhibition led to Amanda and I undertaking a yearlong project in creating an art-based coffee shop café called NoKo, in the Fristadsenetret, Åmot. I designed and built an art wall using my typical scrapyard recycling approach. The African creativeness embedded in my veins, naturally flowed into a scene never seen in these parts before.

2016 

During 2016, we agreed to be part of the Project Agreement and requested by the owners of the Fristadsenteret, I had access to an empty space, separate but also a part of NoKo. Together with my wife Amanda managing the coffee shop, we curated a solo exhibition for almost a year. With steady growing numbers of customers and visitors, I again managed to have significant sales.

Feb 2016 Snøforming Bear. A venue held in our Local town, Åmot, mainly privately organized by Alexander Stettin and supported by students from a German Architectural University.
Snow gets compacted into 3m x 3m x3m blocks and then carved into various forms in only two days. I carved a Bear.

Beginning June 2016, I landed up in ICU with a Staphylococcus infection in my lower spine. This was two-month setback, but also an eye opener that life is not guaranteed!

Mjonøy Internasjonale Smedvetling - Blacksmith Challenge 22 - 25 Aug 2016 (Organiser) With some sponsorship from the Vinje Kommune and Mjonøy Bakeri, I organized a revival of Blacksmithing in Vinje. I invited two prominent Blacksmiths, Finin Liam Christi (Ireland) and Yaron Bob (Israel), an they had a Challenge to create a Scrap metal Goat. Interest from the public kept us busier than expected and we only managed to get the head done.

Late 2016 we managed to purchase a 1948 log house with a sizable plot closer to town and started renovating it beginning 2017

2017

Since I have started solely performing art, I had ‘built’ nine workshops between South Africa, the UK and Norway. I always had to rent from someone and then convert and or adapt an existing structure into a suitable workspace.
These structures were a stable (Zoutwater – RSA), a very old garage (Philadelphia – RSA), two small factory sheds (Philadelphia – RSA), an partly open steel shed (Tregath Farm – Cornwall, UK), an unused milkery (Trewornan Farm, Cornwall, UK), part of cattle barn (Port Gaverne – Cornwall, UK), a Chicken shed (Nesland Farm, Vinje - Norway) and a Bombshelter (Vinjar School – Vinje, Norway).
For the first time I had the opportunity to build my own, but zero funds to do so. With a small private loan, I started using logs and scrap metal, in combination with two shipping containers of which damaged, but still useable.

At the time of writing this is still an ongoing project and smaller Blacksmith shop had been added.
Mjonøy Internasjonale Smedvetling - Blacksmith Challenge 22 - 25 June, 2017 (Organiser) Again partly sponsored sponsorship by the Vinje Kommune and Mjonøy Bakeri, I organized a second of Blacksmithing event in Vinje. Both Blacksmiths, Finin Liam Christi (Ireland) and Yaron Bob (Israel), were willing to join us again. This time they had a Challenge to create some tools for the event and had to create five items which the public could then judge

July 2017, I was invited by the Straume Galleri in Øyfell to take part in an exhibition. On request of the Galleri my art stayed in situ to date. During this period, I took part in two specific exhibitions arranged by the Straume Galleri.

Plans:

https://europartfair.com/

EuropArtFair 2019