EG: I started working with nylon ropes at art school, but I didn’t show the works to anyone because I felt that nobody would be interested in it. In 1989 I was invited to a textile symposium in the north of Sweden that lasted a month and featured textile artists from all over Europe. I was provided with nylon ropes and invited to experiment with the materials.

From 1991 Grieg worked as a textile workshop manager at the art academy in Oslo where she also had enough time to work on her own practice. She elaborates on where and how she works.

EG: Through the years I developed a daily creative process working with ropes; for me, it is a kind of meditation. I don’t get bored; it is quite strange. I take my work everywhere I go – in the car, on the tram, on the boat, etc.

In the studio I twist the ropes and then color them, then I dry them completely which can take as long as 3 weeks, depending on how thick they are, and untwist them again. They shrink a lot. Later, I choose the technique to apply to the ropes – twisting, knotting, brushing out separate strands. it is always a very structured and specific process, to get to the desired finish point. I compose the ropes in many layers (…) that accumulates to even dozens and dozens of kilos at a time. That’s why I now have an elevator system just for this, because it is physically so demanding. Before that, I had to find some strong men around the building! But it is not that big of a struggle anymore.

KS: Is there any other reason as to why they are hanging from the ceiling, even in an exhibition context?

EG: That has been the right way of doing it for me. That makes them appear lighter although they weigh 30-40 kg. They are also free to move and can be seen from all sides.

We further talk about Ellen Grieg’s artistic medium of choice and when she started working with it:

EG: Since I was a little girl I always liked doing anything with my hands, I liked knitting, weaving (…) I first enrolled in interior design studies, but I changed to textile art, which I am happy I did. It was an obvious choice for me.

KS: It seems that came to be quite naturally. Were you ever concerned how your art might be viewed by the public just because of the medium? Although in Scandinavian countries textile art is regarded in high esteem and very much valued in the 21st century, more so than in other Western countries, where it still might be regarded as a low status craft. Hence, do you perceive textile practice as political? Do you think its status has changed over the years?

EG: Textile practice can be political both as a commentary on political events and as an declaration of women's independent expressions, because most textile artists still happen to be women.

It is, for me, difficult to understand that a line is drawn between craftsmanship and intellectual work; arts and crafts and visual arts, and that the visual arts have a higher status than the arts and crafts. Both categories have the same elements of craftsmanship, materials and expressions in them. Both categories bear the stamp of the artist's reaction to the life they live and see around them. I have nevertheless observed that the society around me has perceived it as low and high status, but this has somewhat changed. We perhaps see this most clearly in textile art, which has now gained high status in Norway. I believe that the women's fight for equality in the arts is also of great importance here - and that journalists and art historians have begun to take an interest in textile art as its own and important expression.

We further discuss Grieg’s use of synthetic materials and the juxtaposition of her inspiration that derives from nature, more specifically sea life.

EG: Firstly, the synthetic material is already there; that’s why I do not feel bad about using it. I use it mostly because the colors become much more potent on this material. Nylon is completely white, natural materials aren’t, so that’s why I cannot achieve the same effects. I like the shine it provides and that is very important to me.

Furthermore, I take most inspiration from sea life organisms such as corals, sea urchins and fish. I have always thought about how, in nature, forms of life speak to each other – it is this organic way of thinking I am after.

KS: Your works seem very playful, colorful, and light. What is ‘hard’ about them?

EG: I wish I could work more ‘directly’, for example how a painter uses a gesture; because they take so long to make. I get more and more eager to see how a work will end up looking like. It can take many months or even years for a piece to be finished!

The textile pieces she is currently working on are between a few weeks and about three years old, such as the red unfinished piece hanging from the ceiling of her studio. Grieg then shares her ideal studio conditions and elaborates further on the process of setting up exhibitions as well as the change in her attitude towards it throughout the years.

EG: My ideal studio condition would be silence. I sometimes have some assistants in the studio, for example, my husband and also my clever granddaughter, who likes to help me. Moreover, we always work in silence and are concentrate the whole time.

As an artist, you get more experienced and more relaxed, which is a thing that comes with age. I always found preparations before exhibition openings very stressful – at that time I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t speak, I was so nervous. I would always ask myself, why do I do this, why don’t I do something else! It was terrible – but that doesn’t happen anymore. And the exhibition openings are and have always been very exciting.

KS: As this conversation draws to a close; as a well-established artist with a mature practice, what would be your advice for young artists at the start of their careers?

EG: I was always stubborn and followed my own ideas, I didn’t listen to my professors, I always thought I had better ideas! (laughter) And I always thought that old people were doing boring things! But there was a reason that the professors were teaching at the school. And since then, I tried to find out that reason. And it paid off. I would encourage a young artist to be their own individual self, to try to do what they have in their own head and, again, to be stubborn.

June 2024, Oslo

Interview and photography by Katarina Snoj