STARA - 16.04.2015, Page 57

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managed to arrange a meeting. FÍM had always
been the biggest obstacle but now it had a new
chairman, Sigrún Guðjónsdóttir, Rúna to us.
The great debate that had raged in the past –
and still did in part – had little to do with her.
Finally we had a basis for cooperation to start
the fairly complicated process of uniting all the
groups. We held many meetings and each mem-
ber was assigned a certain task. The first idea
was to disband all the associations and group all
visual artists together. However, it could not be
done legally and instead we created a board of
representatives from every association with the
board itself being voted at an annual meeting.
This made me concerned about the status of the
members of HM. I was even hoping to change
the group’s statute and keep it in existence, but
those ideas were not supported. Who was sup-
posed to be their advocate on the board or at
the association’s forum? The workgroup’s con-
clusion was that individuals could be members
of the umbrella organization. A decision was
made to organize a representative body which
included a representative from each member
association as well as one representative for in-
dividual members, elected at the annual general
meeting. In addition, board members would be
elected at the annual general meeting. From the
outset, this arrangement seems to have worked
quite well, but is likely unnecessary today.
The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists was
founded in November 1982 at a well attended
meeting of visual artists at Hótel Borg. Attend-
ees agreed that the future was brighter now that
everyone stood together in order to support and
strengthen visual art in Iceland. Thirty years
later, I have come to the realization that this
was a great advancement, although we still need
to fight for awareness and the right to practice
real visual art in this country. Many things have
been achieved, one of them being the acquisi-
tion of a good housing in the heart of the city.
When we started this journey we managed to
get a small facility at the Ásmundarsalur
Gallery, not the most convenient accommoda-
tion but good for meetings. Today, I am happy
to have contributed to the interest of visual
artists in this country and I wish those who now
control the reins at SÍM all the best in strength-
ening and mounting guard around visual art
in Iceland.
The groups that formed SÍM were: Society of
Icelandic Artists (Félag íslenskra myndlistar-
manna), Reykjavík Sculpture Association
(Myndhöggvarafélagið í Reykjavík), The
Icelandic Printmakers Association (Íslensk
grafík), The Icelandic Textile Guild (Textíl-
félagið), The Icelandic Ceramic Artists’
Association (Leir-listafélag Íslands) and the
Interest Organisation of Visual Artists, which
was then disbanded. Sigrún Guðjónsdóttir,
Rúna, became the first chairman and a few of us
who were in the preparation group continued
on as members of SÍM’s first board.