Ava P Christl & Daniel Fonken
Artists in residence for the month of June 2024.
Ava P Christl makes paintings and drawings about the land. Her work encompass ideas around place and belonging; nature as healer; wilderness; loss, renewal and regeneration; landscape and memory; and our human relationships to the living land.
A love of trees and a special fondness for birches came in Ava’s childhood home in the woods in northwestern BC (Canada). Later, she realized a connection between the birches of her ancestral homeland in northern Germany and Finland and the rare stands of paper birch in Yukon where she now lives.
Ava’s ongoing work on the Boreal forests of northern Canada continues through this Icelandic residency where she seeks an understanding of forest use and value on personal, governmental and environmental levels. Ava aspires to show the wonder, beauty and diversity of Boreal forests and point to their value not just for timber and recreation, but as homelands of solace, healing, connection, identity and spirituality.
Ava holds a BFA from NSCAD University, and a Certificate of Adult Education, University of Victoria. Her paintings have been exhibited across Canada and are held in private and public collections including the Yukon Permanent Art Collection, Yukon Hospital Corporation and Art Bank of Canada, Ottawa.
Gilfélag is Daniel Fonken’s first international artist residency. While photography is his primary mode, he loves mixing mediums. His artworks can incorporate video, sculpture, and installation.
Daniel’s knowledge of Colorado mountain forest ecology (plus the impacts of wildfire) will help shape his approach to the subject of trees here in Iceland. He is curious about the way trees as well as wood products play a role in local life.
Everyone has a relationship to trees and stories to tell. There is so much (cultural, art-related, and science-based) to learn about Iceland’s unique history with trees/forests. As a newcomer, Daniel hopes to add his vision and perspective to the topic addressing ideas of forest loss and regrowth in visually informative, aesthetically engaging and perhaps even humorous ways.
Daniel has a BA Theater – Whitman College, a BA Studio Art/Film – The Evergreen State College, and an MFA Video/Photography – School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His jobs include teaching photography, installing gallery shows, stage crew & pet-sitting. He has exhibited work at the Rocky Mountain Biennial, SFMoMA Artist Gallery and the Center for Fine Art Photography.
