Kristine Fornes
In Residence: November - December 2026
Kristine Fornes (b. 1971, Longyearbyen) is a Norwegian artist working primarily with textiles, dyeing techniques and embroidery. She holds degrees from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and Bergen Academy of Arts and Design, and lives and works in the Artist Housing Colony at Bøler, Oslo.
Over the past two decades, Fornes has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at SOFT Gallery, Buskerud Art Center, Trafo Kunsthall, Kunstgarasjen and Dropsfabrikken. Her work is represented in the collections of KORO (Public Art Norway), KODE, Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, and the National Museum.
Fornes’ visual language has developed through a sustained exploration of textile dyeing and embroidery, often challenging conventional ideas of what embroidery can be. Her practice brings together scholarly, philosophical and artistic approaches to explore the cultural and historical meanings carried by textiles. Textile traditions, craftsmanship and the origins of materials become part of narratives that consider history, relationships with nature, and how these histories and traditions resonate in the present.
During her residency at Artica Svalbard, Fornes will explore processes of spinning, knitting, drawing and printing, working with wool alongside fibres including linen, silk, rose fibre and cotton.
Her research will include time with the cultural-historical collections at Svalbard Museum, where she will study archaeological textile finds, photographs and archival material. She is particularly interested in the craftsmanship and visual language found within these collections, and how they might inform the development of new work.
Returning to Svalbard, where she was born, also offers Fornes an opportunity to step outside her usual studio environment and work closely with a different landscape and context. Through the residency, she will consider how the possibilities and limitations of working in new surroundings can influence both craft processes and the artworks that emerge from them.
Kristine Fornes received additional support for this residency from:
