Ellen Grieg

Ellen Grieg has created two new works for the glass facade at Oslo Central Station, composed of dyed and twisted polyamide. The material’s ability to absorb color, the way it shines and feels are important qualities that she highlights in different ways.

Inside the building hangs a thick, turquoise rope. The threads are untwisted at the ends, creating textured curls. Outside is a series of soft, braided ropes, hanging along the height of the glass facade. The knots along the lengthy yellow, green and white ropes create a recurring rhythm in the work. Both works are a contrast to the architecture surrounding them, characterised by large glass surfaces, metal beams and lots of grey. The title Knutepunkt, meaning meeting point or knot, is a play on both the Central Station as a place and the techniques found in her works.

Textile art in Norway was for a long time seen as a low status craft and a women’s occupation without much recognition as contemporary art. This view has changed considerably. Ellen Grieg has through the years continued to work with textiles. In doing so, she manifests the claim that it has high professional value, making it into a political statement.

Ellen Grieg (b. 1948) is a Norwegian textile artist, known for working with colorful ropes. Through a long career as an artist, she has gained deep knowledge of the rope’s structure, movement and format in addition to adherent processes such as twisting and dyeing. Grieg draws inspiration from colors and contrasts in nature, and folk art from around the world. Grieg is a graduate of the Norwegian School of Arts, Crafts and Design (1973), the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava (1974) and UMPRUM - the College of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague (1975). She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, both in Norway and internationally.