Reykjavík Grapevine - mar. 2023, Blaðsíða 28

28 The Reykjavík
Grapevine 2/23
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March 2, 2023
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“I am in Höfn. To drive here (if the
road is open hehehe) takes around six
hours,” reads an email from Hanna Dís
Whitehead in response to a request
for a face-to-face interview. By sheer
coincidence, just two days later we
find ourselves standing in her colour-
ful studio, 500 km from Reykjavík.
Hanna Dís tells me she works with
colours more in the winter as a means
of battling the darkness, but one thing
needs no explanation — her passion
for her work is contagious.
Reykjavík jungle to
countryside oasis
“I’m from Reykjavík — 101 Reykjavík,
even,” smiles Hanna Dís when asked
what brought her to Höfn. “I moved
here to work at the glacier lagoon as
a guide probably around 17 years ago,
and I loved it.”
“(All these) years later I'm still like
‘Wow’ … the colours in the glaciers,
the mountains, the sky,” she marvels
aloud. “When I'm driving to my studio
in the countryside I see all the birds, I
see the sheep. I'm looking at their wool
like ‘Oh, look at that wool blowing in
the wind. I want to get that wool.’”
Hanna Dís believes that living in
a small community has given her
a better balance and more time to
create. “I have a lot more time than
I had in Reykjavík,” she says. “In
Reykjavík you're always at a red light.
You're always sort of busy somehow.
Here, there’s no red light — there are
no traffic lights. You go very quickly
between places and everything is easy.”
A few of her favourite things
This year, Hanna Dís became one
of 10 artists to receive the prestigious
listamannalaun (artist salary) in the
designer category — and she’s the
sole designer to be funded for an
entire year to work on four projects. “I
applied for a year because I had four
projects that totally fit in a year. I had
to make a big application and explain
how I'm gonna do everything and also
give a timeline,” Hanna Dís says. “I was
lucky.”
Two of the projects she submit-
ted for the grant use local materials.
“These are the materials I get three
kilometres from my workshop — oat
straw and second graded wool,” she
explains, gesturing to the piles of wool
and straw scattered around the studio.
“Second graded wool in Iceland is the
wool that they cannot use for the knit-
ting thread — almost all of it just gets
sent out of the country.”
Another project Hanna Dís is work-
ing on this year will focus on bent
wood, also known as ‘banana wood,’
which is typically considered unus-
able. For this project, Hanna Dís plans
to combine wood offcuts with ceram-
ics. The fourth project is a continua-
tion of “Point of View,” a collaboration
between Hanna Dís and her friend
Guðmundur Úlfarsson, which explores
the artists’ shared interest while
bridging the gap between digital and
handmade creations.
Exploring possibilities
At this point in time, Hanna Dís is
researching what she can do with the
wool and the oat straw. “I am making
experiments using the felting machine
at the textile lab in Blönduós, which
is on the other side of the country,
to make industrial felt. I colour it by
mixing in the rest of the material from
my rug making,” she shares.
“The material is super usable,” she
says, showing some samples from
Blönduós. “You just need to know the
purpose for it. We don't need to send
it somewhere else, we can try to find
different ways to use it here,” Hanna
Dís is confident. “I think the rough
part of the wool kicks off dirt very
well. It’s actually really good for rugs.”
Hanna Dís is puzzled by the lack
of felt usage in Iceland compared to
other countries. “In Finland, you have
felt shoes and felt bags, and we don’t
really have this industry,” she laments.
“The nice thing about it is that you can
felt wool together — you don't even
need to sew anything.”
Hanna Dís says the possibilities of
second graded wool are endless — she
even wants to try using it in furniture:
“I have big dreams, ignoring all the red
flags that are saying, ‘No, this is not
possible.’”
At the same time, Hanna Dís
is experimenting with oat straw
marquetry. “It's just straw, but it’s
amazing. It grows while I sleep,” she
says. “You can do patterns with it, but
of course, this is something you have
to make by hand. There's no machine
or anything.” The silica on the straw
is really strong, so it takes a while
for straws to boil before a dye can be
applied. Hanna Dís brings a block of
carefully coloured and inlaid straws
to the window to show its natural
glow: “It's a really beautiful surface, it
reflects light in a really nice way.”
Living the dream
“This year I got this 12-month grant,
so I'm still living in a dream. When
I got that, I couldn't believe it. You
get one year of freedom,” Hanna Dís
cannot hide her excitement. “I work
freelance and that's almost month-
to-month worries. I got rid of those
worries for a bit. I'm really looking
forward to just living the dream now.”
Hanna Dís acknowledges that next
year she will likely face the typical
struggles of a freelancer, as it is highly
unlikely that she’ll receive back-to-
back grants. For now, her focus is just
starting the projects. “I can work on
the projects I'm so passionate about,”
she says. “I feel very spoiled and super,
super grateful.”
Words:
Iryna Zubenko
Image:
Joana Fontinha
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