Our collection anchors the museum’s activity. It is professionally managed by us on behalf of the public and represents the past and present for generations to come. We are a relatively new art museum with a modest budget and collection. However, thanks to extra funding from the Norwegian government due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum has over the last two years (2020-2021) been able to expand our collection of contemporary art. In this text, you can read about several of our newly acquired works.

We have a special responsibility for artistic practices linked to our region but have also acquired works from artists living elsewhere in Norway. Some of them have roots in our region, while others work with themes that are relevant for our museum. Both new and established voices are represented.

Many of the works have a close affinity to nature, like the artist’s choice of materials. Another theme portrays the micro- and macrolevel traces and presences of human beings, for better or worse. While paintings in different forms are prominent, the many accessions have been consciously chosen to represent a wide range of media.

Lisette Escobar

Adopting a playful approach, Lissette Escobar abstracts and simplifies figurative shapes, inspired by Pre-Columbian ceramics from Peru. As a ceramicist, her main material is red clay, burnt gently. Both her use of material and its expression evokes associations to nature, the body, and ancient civilisations. Since her graduation, Escobar has established her artistic production in Sunnmøre. Her articistic practices is active and outgoing. Our purchase of this collection of sculptures preserves her early works for future generations.

Lissette Escobar (b. 1982, Lima) lives in Sula. She is educated at the Academy of Arts in Oslo (MFA, 2018).

Reinhold Ziegler

The place of jewelry in humankind’s development, and our consciousness, is central to Reinhold Ziegler’s works. He creates works that puts the carrier in contact with something greater, which transcends the individual on a metaphysical level. Ziegler is a goldsmith, practicing the profession for many years before his formal education in the arts. Today, he is considered one of Norway’s most interesting contemporary artists working with jewelry. His explorative working methods, strong reputation, and regional connection, motivates the inclusion of Ziegler’s works in our collection.

Reinhold Ziegler (b. 1965, Kristiansund) lives in Kristiansund. He was educated at the Academy of Arts in Oslo (MFA, 2006).

Vibeke Slyngstad

Vibeke Slyngstad’s paintings include a variety of motifs, from studies of modernistic architectural pearls to landscapes. Central to all of them is their emotional qualities. The artworks purchased by the museum comes from the Democracy-series, 2017. This project emerged from photographs taken directly after one of the government buildings were bombed during the terrorist attack of 22 July 2011. These paintings, which are central pieces in her production, addresses this national, traumatic event with a gentle brush. Their timeliness, and Slyngstad’s connection to the region, motivates the inclusion of these works in our collection, alongside a formerly acquired sculptural piece from early in Slyngstad’s career.

Vibeke Slyngstad (b. 1968, Ålesund) lives in Oslo. She is educated at the National Academy of Art in Oslo (1989–94) and Meisterschule für Malerei in Graz, Austria (1988–89).

Vibeke Slyngstad. "Democracy Part 1, I", 2017. Oil on canvas. "Democracy Part 2, II", 2017. Oil on canvas. "Democracy Part 2, III", 2017. Oil on canvas. © Vibeke Slyngstad/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Vibeke Slyngstad. "Democracy Part 1, I", 2017. Oil on canvas. © Vibeke Slyngstad/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Vibeke Slyngstad. "Democracy Part 2, II", 2017. Oil on canvas. "Democracy Part 2, III", 2017. Oil on canvas. © Vibeke Slyngstad/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Sidsel Colbiørnsen

Tapestry has always been a central feature of Sidsel Colbiørnsen’s art. She belongs to a generation of artists in the 1970s who broke with the traditional figurative form of tapestry. She chose form, colour, and composition over political statements (a tendency among many of her contemporary artists). With this acquisition, we now have three works by Colbiørnsen, from different decades, in our collection, securing a central artistry for the future.

Sidsel Colbiørnsen (b. 1942, Oslo) lives on the island Godøya. She was educated at the textile department at the National School of Decorative Arts and Design (1958–62).

Kenneth Alme

A tension between the abstract and the figurative permeates Kenneth Alme’s art. Through painting, sculpture and installation, he explores how we can comprehend the incomprehensible. In this two-part work, the notion of “flight patterns” relates to a bird’s flight patterns, while “in the age of nonsense”, is a comment on our times. A direct reference to nature reveals an interest in the relationship that people have to their surroundings. Alme is representative of his own generation’s explorations of the painting as a medium. This work is the first by Alme included in our collection.

Kenneth Alme (b. 1981, Tønsberg, grown up in Stranda) lives in Oslo. He graduated from the Academy of Art in Oslo, and Städelschule, Frankfurt (MFA, 2010).

Susanne Fagermo

Technical expertise, along with a strong will to experiment, are defining features of Susanne Fagermo’s works. The rich colouring and small details are brought out through several rounds of burning. Gaining recognition as a ceramicist around 1990, she took a break in her artistic production in the early 2000s to work on a fishing boat. Returning to art in 2018, Fagermo presented her latest works in the solo exhibition “Complex, divided and transformed” at KHÅK in the autumn 2020. She began the process of making the jar which has been included in the collection in 2019, and completed it in 2021.

Susanne Fagermo (b. 1955, Ålesund) lives in Ulsteinvik. She was educated at the National School of Decorative Arts and Design (graduated in 1989).

Siv Bugge Vatne

Historical sources and science are foundational in many of Siv Bugge Vatne’s works. The series Humming is an ongoing project, consisting of a growing number of sculptural objects assembled by the artist in new combinations every time they are exhibited. “Via stone 1–3” is a work in three parts, which can be shown individually or as a group. Including this work by Vatne in our collection gives a broader representation of her artistic expressions, alongside two of her previously acquired works.

Siv Bugge Vatne (b. 1975, Molde) lives in Oslo. She graduated from The Academy of Art in Oslo (1996–2001) and Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Netherlands (1999).

Erling Valtyrson

With precise craftmanship and a unique style, Erling Valtyrson creates remarkable tableaus, portraits and still life compositions. His motifs emerge by drawing directly onto the copper plate, emphasizing the nuances between light and dark. Doing so, Valtyrson imbues the prints with an almost textile-like softness and depth. Valtyrson is considered a master within the graphic technique mezzotint, and this is the first work by him to be included in the museum collection.

Erling Valtyrson (b. 1955, Ålesund) lives on the island Askøy, Hordaland. He is educated at the National Academy of Art and Design in Bergen (1980–86).

Kathrine Lindman

The references to the ocean in titles, expression, and materials, reveals Kathrine Lindman’s inspiration by nature. She often collects materials for her art directly from her surroundings. The museum has acquired a piece of jewellery from her Seashell series, as well as a necklace and a brooch from the Seaweed series. The latter pieces use seaweed as a starting point, and are made from cast oxidised silver. Seashell Breeze consists of small, enamelled parts that give direct associations to ocean shells.

Kathrine Lindman (b. 1969) lives in Kristiansund. She is educated at the National School of Decorative Art and Design at the Department of Metal (1991–93), and has worked actively with her jewellery collections since then.

Kathrine Lindman. "Seashell Breeze", 2010. Silver, enamel. © Kathrine Lindman/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Kathrine Lindman. "Seaweed 1", 2018. Cast, oxidised silver. "Seaweed brooch", 2018. Cast, oxidised silver. © Kathrine Lindman/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Siri Skjerve

In the last few years, Siri Skjerve has explored the potentials of naturally tanned leather. She has established her artistic practice in Todalen, Nordmøre, and her works are often based in her immediate surroundings. In this work, the tanned leather has been used to create facemasks, with leather straps from an old calfskin jacket. People have a need to protect themselves from hazards, and in light of the COVID-19 pandemic the work evokes both fear and vulnerability. The contemporary relevance, and Skjerve’s immersion in her materials, motives the inclusion of her art in our collection.

Siri Skjerve (b. 1979) lives in Todalen. She is educated at the Academy of Art in Bergen (MFA, 2007).

Kjell Gunnar Overøye

Craftmanship is at the core of Kjell Gunnar Overøye’s art. Steel, brass, copper, silver and wood are his main materials. Time-consuming processes with patination, welding and cutting demand a great degree of sensibility and precision. The work Landscape is based on the artist’s own coal sketches from the British documentary “Hiroshima – the bomb that changed history”. The work is a meticulous exploration of materials, and a reflection on dismantling and rebuilding, on destruction and possible reconciliation. This is the first work by Overøye in the museum collection.

Kjell Gunnar Overøye (b. 1964, Stordal) lives in Sykkylven. He was educated at the National School of Decorative Art and Design at the Department of Metal (1985–89).

Magnhild Opdøl

The tension between life and death, the serious and the comically banal, often lie beneath Magnhild Opdøl’s art, a wide range of expressions, from drawings to installations. In this work, Opdøl has used vintage postcards, which originally showed images of deer in their natural habitat. In this work, the deer’s surroundings have been erased by felt-tip pen and ink. All that remains is the animal and selected details. The context is erased, and the idyllic postcards gain a dramatic and ambiguous quality. This is the third work by Opdøl in the museum’s collection.

Magnhild Opdøl (b. 1989, Sunndalsøra) lives in Sunndal. She is educated at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland (2002–2007).

Jon Arne Mogstad

Painting is at the core of Jon Arne Mogstad’s production, who is considered a master in his field. His style of painting has a wide range, but one characteristic feature is his emergence in, and continuous exploration of new methods and expressions in painting. The museum has now acquired three works by Mogstad. This work is from a series based on the river Surna. Mogstad returned to his home village, Surnadal, in 2017, having lived elsewhere since 1966. He wanted to explore how his return affected his art. Amongst other things he painted the river, to which he is strongly connected from his childhood. Mogstad has always alternated between abstraction and figuration, a tension which is clearly visible in this painting.

Jon Arne Mogstad (b. 1950, Surnadal) lives in Surnadal. Mogstad was educated at the National School of Decorative Art and Design (1974–1978), and the National Academy of Art (1978–82).

Karin Augusta Nogva

Exploring the possibilities of graphic media is at the core of Karin Augusta Nogva’s art. An inspiration from traditional Japanese forms can be clearly traced in her visual style. In later years, Nogva’s political consciousness has become more apparent. Performative expressions are also an aspect of Nogva’s art, and in 2020 a new project saw the light of day. The bird watcher’s performative actions took place as a protest against the building of wind turbines on Haramsfjellet, which directly affected 47 red-listed bird species in the area. This project also emerges in Nogva’s graphical works, and three of them have been included in the museum’s collection. These works supplement other acquisitions in our collection, which now displays a range of Nogva’s artistic productions.

Karin Augusta Nogva (b. 1976, Ålesund) lives in Ålesund. She has an MFA from the Academy of Art in Bergen (2006).

Karin Augusta Nogva. "Bird watcher and the peregrine falcon", 2022. Screen print. © Karin Augusta Nogva/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Karin Augusta Nogva. "Ruff", 2020. Woodcut. © Karin Augusta Nogva/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Karin Augusta Nogva. "Skylark", 2020. Woodcut. © Karin Augusta Nogva/BONO. Foto: Kristin Støylen/ Viti.

Bent Erik Myrvoll

Photography and performance are key elements in Bent Erik Myrvoll’s art, but he is most known for being one of Norway’s leading experts in fresco paintings and mural techniques. He has created a number of public decorations and participated in restauration projects for the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Mother started as a work from his student days, and has followed him throughout his artistic career. The sign is a part of Myrvoll’s art project, The Art Ambulance, and has been a part of many performances in this period 2007–19. The work spans large parts of Myrvoll’s artistic practice and is an important contribution to our collection. The work has been made using a stucco lustro technique, and fibre optics enlightened by a self-made light carousel, have been cast in below the surface. On the sculpture you discover figures from Myrvoll’s visual universe: the mother/Madonna figure and the puffin bird.

Bent Erik Myrvoll (1969, Ålesund) lives and works in Ålesund. He is a graduate from the Art College in Stockholm (2003–07).

Heidi Bjørgan

The creative process itself is central and often visible in Heidi Bjørgan’s works, which are defined by deconstructed shapes and expressive glazes. She often presents her works in tableaus. The work Object 3489 (Homage to Hans Hjorth) was created for the exhibition “I Have Always Been Here Before” at the Nitja Centre of Contemporary Art in 2021, as a part of a larger installation consisting of three rooms. The work is a homage to the Danish potter Hans Hjorth (1878–1966) and Hjorth’s factories in Bornholm, who in the 1880s gained recognition for his works in black terra cotta and glaze, among other things. Around 1900, the art nouveau style influenced his works with poppies, flowers and magical animals, all in black. As such, his ceramics of this period also had a gothic style. This work is highly relevant to our collection, with its special emphasis on the art nouveau style.

Heidi Bjørgan (b. 1970, Trondheim) lives in Bergen. She is educated as a ceramicist (MFA, 2000) and curator (2008–10 at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design, and Konstfack in Stockholm (2000-01).

Ida Madsen Følling

Ida Madsen Følling primarily works with drawing. In this work, first shown as a part of a total installation at Kunstnerforbundet, she has filled the canvas with dry pastels, felt-tip pen and water colours in a myriad of colours. The shapes flow in and out of the figurative. You can, among other things, see the outlines of a hand, an element recurring in several of her works. Følling is also known for her political work for the financial and social rights of artists. She is a relevant artist for our collection, representing the national contemporary art scene, with connections to Møre og Romsdal.

Ida Madsen Følling (b. 1983, Averøy) lives in Oslo. She is educated at the Academy of Art in Oslo (MFA, 2013).

Elida Linge / Mari Kvien Brunvoll

The installation Plum Orchard Partiture by Elida Linge and Mari Kvien Brunvoll is a series of drawings and a musical multi-channel work in several movements. These drawings, which are based on the repetitive work and components in one of Linge’s plum orchards, serve as both a recipe and a report, as the orchard still exists, and the labour with the fruit trees being repeated year after year. The paper it is drawn on stems from earlier generations on Linge’s farm. Brunvoll’s soundscape creates spaces between the trees, distance and closeness. At the same time Brunvoll seeks to capture the personality of the orchard, and its individual trees. The installation has taken many forms since they began cooperating on the project in 2019. This work, now been included in the museum’s collection, was shown in Tegnerforbundet’s project room in 2021, as a part of the group exhibition “Seasons – Where I Am”, initiated by Møre og Romsdal county.

Elida Brenna Linge (b. 1982) lives in Linge. She has an MFA from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design (2010).

Mari Kvien Brunvoll (b. 1984, Molde) lives in Bergen. She graduated from the Grieg Academy in Bergen in 2010.

Helle Siljeholm

The Mountain Body is a multi-disciplinary project by the choreographer and visual artist Helle Siljeholm. In cooperation with various people in and outside of the art field, she explores how mountains both visibly and invisibly influence, and are influenced by, their surrounding society, through the Anthropocene and considering the geological era (deep time). The mountain is central for several explorations of our views on nature, as well as contemporary ideas about the relationship between nature and culture given contemporary concerns about climate and the environment. During Høstscena in 2021, Norangsdalen, one of Norway’s most beautiful and narrow valleys - where the mountain envelopes people practically, historically, physically, metaphorically, and spiritually - received its own “climbing sculpture”. The Mountain Body builds on an earlier project by Helle Siljeholm, “Nodes on stone and other social landscapes” developed and created in Ålesund in 2017. The museum’s part in the project motivates its inclusion in our collection.

Helle Siljeholm (b. 1981) lives in Oslo. She has a BA from the London Contemporary Dance School (2003), and an MFA in Visual Art from the National Academy of Art in Oslo (2016).

Ruben Eikebø

Ruben Eikebø's paintings explores the tension between figuration and abstraction. Through expressive brushstrokes, he has addressed a wide range of socially relevant issues from the past to the present. Human commitment, and the propensity of extremism in individuals, are reoccurring motifs. In the work Idiol, the figurative element in the painting is taken from a photo of a person who has performed several plastic operations to look like a Ken-doll. Since graduating, Eikebø has painted on mirrors, and as a viewer you therefore become part of the work. This is how Eikebø challenges us to reflect on ourselves, faced with the underlying themes in his paintings.

Ruben Eikebø (b. 1988, Ålesund) lives in Bergen. He graduated from the Bergen Academy of the Arts (MAF, 2018).

Lars Tore Kjemphol

Lars Kjemphol is a versatile artist who works in a variety of media: from large installations to music, artist books, NFT’s and graphic prints. The defining characteristic of his work is his inclusive way of working, which involves collaborations with other artists and social groups. One could argue that his principal material so far has been people, handled according to the motto: Art for those who did not know they liked art. The museum has included seven works from Kjemphol’s project Woodland in its collection. The Woodland project can be described as a social sculpture using skateboards as the medium. The project began in 2009 and is still ongoing. Along with a myriad of contributors, Kjemphol has made a workshop that creates sculptures you can roll on, literally. Through the project, the artist opposes a somewhat exclusive art scene, and static sculptures that merely stands there, passively. Woodland explores the divisions between high and low culture, and the potential of art to find its way into the everyday lives of people.

Lars Kjemphol (b. 1980) lives and works in Oslo and grew up in Sykkylven. He graduated from the National Academy of Arts in Oslo (MFA, 2008).

Marianne Heske

"ICEBREAKER", 1990/2020. Soundwork, 45 min.

Marianne Heske is one of Norway’s most prominent artists. She is especially known for her installations, video painting and dolls heads, which in different ways represent humanity’s relationship to nature. The soundwork ICEBREAKER is inspired by her childhood and the fjords where she grew up. The work was created in 1990 and exhibited for the first time in 2003 in Taiwan as a part of a larger installation. Sounds in the work were recorded with a stereo microphone by the artist, in the bow of an icebreaker staggering its way through ice to make way for other boats. The soundscape alternates between the dramatic noise from compact, thick ice being broken, to segments of thinner ice, and the silence in open water, before it begins to thunder again. A poetic and dramatic sound of ice being broken into ice crystals in calm waters. This is the first soundwork to be included in our collection. Heske is already represented in the museum with smaller works, and the inclusion of this larger work preserves more of her art for the future.

Marianne Heske (b. 1946, Ålesund) lives in Oslo. She is educated at Bergen College of Art and Design (1967–71), École Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1971–75), Royal College of Art in London (1975–76) and Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht (1976–79).

Joar Nango

"The Indigenuity Manifesto" (2016). Video, 3 min.

Joar Nango is a Sami-Norwegian artist and architect. His art addresses topics related to the identity and architecture of indigenous peoples, and he is especially known for working with collective, social projects. The Indegenuity Manifesto is a central work in Nango’s artistic practice and his research on the indigenous competence of the Sami. The term “Indegenuity” is composed of the words indigenous and ingenuity. It was launched by the artist in 2011 to describe the creativity and DIY-practices of the indigenous people in Sapmí. Without sound, the manifesto is a visual and textual animation inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s use of text in his films. Nango spent parts of his childhood in this region, and Sami art deserves to be represented in our collection.

Joar Nango (b. 1979, Alta) grew up in Alta and Molde, and lives in Tromsø. Nango studied architecture at NTNU (MA, 2008), with exchanges at The Bergen School of Architecture, and Weissensee Kunsthochschule in Berlin.

Gjertrud Hals

"From Tindfjell to Kyoto", 2002. Kozo, gampi and mitsumata (the inner bark from different types of Asian mulberry trees), linen thread, thin kozo-paper with lightfast print, coloured pulp.

Gjertrud Hals has been active as a visual artist since the mid-1970s, and has never ceased exploring, expanding, and developing her art. She is now represented with three artworks in our collection. The monumental work, From Tindfjell to Kyoto, originally consisted of 24 panels, and the museum has now acquired 12 of these. The works have been made in a Japanese casting technique, and everything is done in the cast frame while the material is wet. Nothing is added later on, everything is done while concentrated, in the moment.

Gjertrud Hals (b. 1948, Finnøy) lives in Molde. She is educated as a teacher, and has further education from the National Teacher Training College in Arts and Crafts, and spent a year interning at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art.

The artists and works mentioned in this article were all part of the exhibition "Precious Acquisitions" shown at the Jugendstilsenteret and KUBE in 2022. Artworks by the following artists were also purchased with extraordinary grants from the state in the period 2020-2022: Brit Dyrnes, Bjarne Nielsen , Helene Sommer, Lars Christian Istad, Liv Dysthe Sønderland, Marit Helen Akslen, Per Inge Bjørlo, Kiyoshi Yamamoto.