In August 2024 the artists, Laura Pavilonyte and Auste Varne from Lithuania and Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir from Iceland , all connected through textile art met in Marcinkonys in Lithuania. Their paths have crossed in Iceland and Lithuania throughout the years and at some point the artists decided to celebrate their friendship and exhibit together. Laura suggested this wonderful venue in Marcinkonys, an old train station, which still in use but also is used for cultural purposes through another Lithuanian artist Laura Garbstienė. This exhibition was built on deep friendship and connection between Lithuania and Iceland and the importance of communication between people.

In Lithuanian, the word sampyna refers to a certain junction of the elements of the tangled structure, which reflects the acquaintance and unexpected encounters of the three artists, as well as the common ground that arose on their basis.

Both Austė and Laura visited Iceland at different times and visited Asta's studio there, and are inspired by her experimental creativity and interdisciplinary approach to working with textile materials.

Asta has also visited Lithuania several times, she has organized exhibitions here, and together with Laura Pavilonyte-Ežerskiene led a creative workshop for students of the Art Academy Vilnius/Kaunas, Department of Textile Art and Design.

All artists are connected by a natural love and respect for nature, hence the tendency to create sustainably, using natural textile fibers (mostly wool, linen) and materials of organic and inorganic origin found around (horse hair, algae, stones, earth, plants etc.), to paint plant-based dyes, to foster slow hand-made technologies.

In the planned exhibition SAMPYNA, the creations of all the textile artists, as well as planned and unplanned personal encounters, will intertwine into a single installation, as if extending the meaning of the concept that we are all somehow connected, regardless of geographical distances or cultural differences.

Lietuviškai žodis sampyna nurodo į tam tikrą raizginio struktūros elementų sandūrą, kuri atspindi trijų menininkių pažintį ir netikėtus susidūrimus, bei jų pagrindu ištikusią bendrystę.

Tiek Austė, tiek Laura skirtingu metu viešėjo Islandijoje ir ten aplankė Astos studiją, bei yra įkvėptos jos eksperimentinės kūrybos ir tarpdisciplininio požiūrio dirbant su tekstilinėmis medžiagomis.

Asta taip pat ne sykį lankėsi Lietuvoje, čia yra surengusi parodų, kartu su VDA doc. Laura Pavilonyte-Ežerskiene vedusi kūrybines dirbtuves Tekstilės meno ir dizaino katedros studentams. Visas menininkes sieja prigimtinė meilė ir pagarba gamtai, iš čia polinkis kurti tvariai, naudojant natūralios tekstilės pluoštus (dažniausiai vilna, linas) ir rastas aplinkui organinės ir neorganinės kilmės medžiagas (arklio plaukus, dumblius, akmenis, žabus, spyglius ir kt.), dažyti augalinės kilmės dažais, puoselėti lėtąsias rankų darbo technologijas.

Numatytoje parodoje SAMPYNA visų tekstilininkių kūriniai, kaip ir numatyti ar nenumatyti asmeniniai susitikimai, susipins į vientisą instaliaciją, lyg pratęsiant sąvokos reikšmę, kad visi mes kažkokiu būdu esame susiję, nepaisant geografinių atstumų ar kultūrinių skirtumų.

The Transit of Venus across the Sun, international art residence and exhibition Rodrigues, Mauritius Indian Ocean. March 2024. Artist and organicer.

“Space travellers”

“Voyageur de l’espace”

Coconut fibres, ink, wood

Installation

After a powerful meeting with an island, exotic and in many ways different from where I come from, Iceland, I tried to put my impressions into my work here in Rodrigues. Like in Iceland, weather and nature shape the people.

The Transit of Venus across the Sun, international art residence and exhibition Rodrigues, Mauritius Indian Ocean. March 2024. Artist and organicer.

“Nature’s webs”

“Les toiles de la nature”

Aloe plant, silk thread, cotton, tree.

Installation

Group exhibition, Imaaya Gallery, Phoenix, Mauritius. March 2024

Exhibition with 8 artists; Manou Soobhany, Piotr Zamojski, Shinichi Mizoguchi, Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir, Arvin Ombika, Evan Sohun, Cendrine Bolaram, Alix le Juge.

Mar-grét  My grandmothers name - ocean crying.

I only know my grandmother from a few pictures in black and white. I got to know her through stories from others who knew her personally. I learned that her hair was red for example. This work describes a portrait I made of my grandmother with her red hair.

Material; Sheep wool, horsehair, old horsehair rope used for farming.

My Mothers My nature

Many woman in the old times, including the ones of my family had long hair and long braids. This has been a part of them, part of their image. This work is based on my mother’s souvenir.

Material; Sheep wool horse hair nylon

My aunts white hair

My grand aunt, strong woman with wonderful white hair. I found this old broken chair and insides this white hair as a filling. I used it for this work as an organic portrait of my aunt with her white hair.

Material; Horsehair, silk

Gríma Mask

Material; Horsehair, sheep wool

Líkami Corp 1

Material; Horsehair, sheep wool

Líkami Corp 2

Material; Horsehair, linen, silk

Self portrait 1

Material; My hair, linen

Self portrait 2

Material; My hair, silk

Aloe - Furcraea foetida

Island Myths and Reality Art residence and exhibition in Mahébourg Mauritius. The exhibition took place in Heritage Museum of Mauritius, Mahébourg, 12 January - 3 April 2023

www.islandmythsandreality.com

Art is often seen as opposite to nature – but I have found the opposite to be true. Nature is generally regarded as frozen or static, but again, the opposite is true. Nature is in fact constantly changing, in a constant flux, continuous evolution.

Take plants or animals as example, or even mountains and valleys.

The artist has to work with nature and participate in this constant change.

To work with nature with my hands brings me closer to myself and to others. It is my way of connecting with my surroundings and the environment. Letting the material lead me to where it wants to go, experience it and learn from it. To watch and to feel and to discover.

To turn a plant into fibre.

The fibres hidden in the Aloe are deeply woven into Mauritian culture. The plant Furcraea foetida, from the family of Asparagaceae, originated from Brazil, was apparently first introduced to Mauritius in the late 18th century. About 1875 a commercial production of the fibres began. A fabric made from the Aloe plant was called “goni” witch means thread or fibre, coming from a South Indian language. It was used quite extensively in Mauritius until 1960 to make bags to pack and ship agricultural commodities such as sugar, rice, wheat, salt etc. The high breathability helped the commodities to stay fresh. In Mauritius goni was directly linked to the sugar trade. Goni also served as mattresses for the indentured labourers and the African slaves, as a shield for the sugarcane cutters form the sharp leaves, as blankets for the underprivileged and as apron for the bhandari, chef in biryani, to name a few things. After use the bags were collected by merchants goni, collectors of gunny sacks, from shop to shop and from house to house to be reused.

In the summer 2022, 26 international artists were invited to Eyrarbakki to live and work together for one month. The occasion was the International Art Exhibition and Residence Oceanus Hafsjór. Initiated by Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir and in collaboration with the Heritage Museum Árnessýsla. 14 international artists were invited and 8 from the area. Due to covid 4 artists could not attend and sent their artworks.

www.oceanushafsjór.com

Artworks by Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsóttir

Couple

Material : recycled material from old fur cape, hores hair , silk, linen.

Mother of Moon

Woven Seaweed and Wool

Material : Icelandic wool, seaweed.

Seaweed Boat

Nature Installation Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir

Eyrarbakki Iceland 2021

Music Takuya Komaba

Dimensions of Sense-ability International Art project

“After a short life on Eyrarbakki´s shore, the waves collected the seaweed boat back to the ocean”.

Seaweed Bird

Nature Installation Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir

Eyrarbakki Iceland 2021

Music Takuya Komaba “Shinto”

Dimensions of Sense-ability International Art project

“Effortless experience of nature, from dusk till dawn, dormant to vibrant”.

P O T E N T I A

Solo Exhibition

Marijos ir Jurgio Slapeliu namas-muziejus Vilnius Lithuania 2020

Plato proposed that everything on earth is what it is by participating in the ideal. So a shoe is such a thing in as much as it partakes in the perfect shue in the world of ideas. Aristotle was his student and thought that to be too abstract. He proposed a simpler solution. Everything on earth, is just two things. First it is matter / material (efni) and as such is a possibility – has potential. Secondly, every material has some form or another. Each matter has form and the form of the thing turns pure unformed matter into something.

An unformatted marble is for the sculpturer just a possibility – potentia – and then he starts to work at it – giving it form. With the form the unformatted marble – the possibility – gains some actuality.

Aristotelian form is like a thought (structure without matter), whereas Aristitelian matter is like possibility (matter without form).

Ásta uses natural material that used to have some form or another is restructured – reformed – so as to give it new form, possibilities, potentia.

In his psychological work Aristotle explains that in perception we see pure form and Ásta re-arranges natural material, inviting the audience to perceive new forms in it.

Iceland‘s threads are old and new, multiple and many-sided. Some lie deep within the nation‘s consciousness, whilst others are dynamically woven into the culture of both urban life and rural life. They get distinguished, find their way up to the surface and back into existence. Travelling into oceans, out to space and over to other countries. There, the threads connect with foreign threads, bond together with new and old. ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.

Some will split, others interlace – BECOME ONE.

To travel the world with threads in her arms gives Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir endless options. What will catch her eye? What comes up to the surface? What wants to step into existence?

Through textile Ásta interprets connections between different cultures. She directs us in seeing what unites us, and seeing our possibilities in finding common grounds throughout different cultures. Tangibly.

The soft, white blankets give us the sense of dreaming, the sense that we can allow ourselves to dream, come together, and the threads are endless. L E T U S D R E A M.

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Þræðir Íslands nýir og gamlir eru margir og fjölþættir. Sumir liggja djúpt i vitund þjóðarinnar en aðir vefjast kvikir í menningarlífi sveita og borga. Þeir greinast og leita undir yfirborð tilverunnar og aftur upp. Fara út í sjó, upp í geim og til annarra landa. Þar tengjast þræðirnir nýjum böndum, bindast saman við gamalt og nýtt. ENDALAUSIR MÖGULEIKAR.

Sumir klofna aðrir vefjast saman – VERÐA EITT.

Að ferðast um heiminn með þræði í fanginu veitir Ástu Vilhelmínu Guðmundsdóttur endalausa möguleika. Hvað kemur hún auga á? Hvað vill koma upp á yfirborðið og verða sýnilegt?

Með textíl túlkar Ásta tengingar ólíkra menningarheima. Hún beinir sjónum okkar til þess sem sameinar okkur og um leið möguleika okkar til að finna sameiginlega fleti ólíkra heima. Áþreifanlega.

Hin mjúku, hvítu teppi gefa okkur til kynna að við getum látið okkur dreyma, koma saman og þræðirnir eru endalausir. L Á T U M O K K U R D R E Y M A.

Dreggjar _ remains of a stay II , an exhibition in Cultural Center Grafarvogur Reykjavík Iceland, June - September 2020. In May 2019 I stayed for a month in a residence in Dusseldorf, Germany. After the stay me and another artist from Iceland Soffía Sæmundsdóttir, exhibited our work we achieved in Germany over this period. This exhibition is a step further, a year later, in Reykjavík. Paintings, textile work, sculptures and drawings.

Invisible Garden … an ode to the ocean.

What lies beneath the surface ?

Installation. Seaweed, cotton, fishbone, paper, stone, soil, silk, bamboo, thread.

JIEAF

Jeju International Experimental Arts Festival South Korea 2019.

Photos Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir

Fading Flower … Installation …. recycled artwork. I used an artwork that I already made few years ago during this same festival. With time it had aged and faded, I added paper I found in the venue we were working Tamnara Republic and turned it into a dress. JIEAF Jeju International Experimental Arts Festival 2019.

Photos Asta Guðmundsdóttir

International OPEN ARTS Project in Busan South Korea 2017. Installation textile sculpture ; “Wing Wings” Sounds moving through the air. Material; Horse hair, icelandic wool, linen thread and traditional Korean fabric ramie. Performance with Gio Ju performance artist and Im Tae Woong musician.

Textilmuseet Baros Sweden 2017. Textile sculpture, bamboo threads and horse hair.

Universality 普遍 Algildi Visuotinumas

Vilnius Lithuania August 2016

Collaboration between Ásta Vilhelmína Guðmundsdóttir Iceland and Takuya Komaba Japan

Bamboo/Bamboo thread/Linen thread/Cotton thread/Horse hair/Silk thread

Installation in Flóra Akureyri Iceland

Summer 2016

Horse hair/Wool/Cotton/Ink/Nylon