Marte Johnslien
Marte Johnslien (b. 1977) is an artist working with ceramic sculpture, installation, and artist’s books. She is an Associate Professor of Ceramic Art at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Department of Art and Craft, and holds a doctoral degree in artistic research from the same department (2020). In recent years, Johnslien has focused on tracing historical connections between mining industries, visual culture, and alchemy. Her artistic investigations involve chemical experimentation with TiO₂ in ceramic processes, archival research, and fieldwork conducted with student participants in the project at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Johnslien describes this as a practice of bringing the immaterial colour white back to its earthly origin, in an attempt to deconstruct the colour white as a symbol of purity, power, and progress. Johnslien has held numerous exhibitions at Norwegian and international galleries and museums. Her works are included in the collections of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, KODE Art Museums, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, and Haugar Kunstmuseum. She has created permanent public artworks for, among others, the Gulating Court of Appeal, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and Oslo Municipality.
Biography
Born 1977 in Lillehammer, Norway
Lives and works in Oslo, Norway
EDUCATION
2016-2019 PhD in Artistic Research, Art and Craft Department, National Academy of the Arts, Oslo
2002-2005 National Academy of Fine Art, Oslo
2000-2001 Robert Meyer Kunsthøgskole, Oslo
1997-2000 Bath Spa University College, UK
1996-1997 Einar Granum Kunstfagskole, Oslo
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Hidden Stone. Velferden Sokndal Scene for Contemporary Art, with TiO2: The Materiality of White, the group consisting of MFA students from the ceramics field
2023 Gaea Norvegica, KRAFT Bergen, Bergen, Norway
2022 The Spoon and the Silica / Ceramic Sculpture, Galleri Riis, Oslo, Norway
2020 White to Earth, ROM for kunst og arkitektur, Oslo
2018 A Square on a Sphere, Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer, Norway
2015 Forms of Resistance, Elephant Kunsthall, Lillehammer, Norway
2014 Forms of Protest, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
2013 Relevo, Galleri Riis, Oslo
2013 If you search for the object all you’ll find is the name, Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kristiansand
2012 The Whitest White, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo
2011 United Nuances, Galleri Riis, Oslo
2008 18% Gray, 0047 Oslo, Oslo
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Mutant Prospects. Coast Contemporary and Velferden Sokndal Scene for Contemporary Art, Hauge i Dalane
2024 Ceramics, inland. Center for ceramic art, Ringebu
2022 Drape with Noura Jaouda, Andrea V. Wright, Marte Johnslien. FOLD, London, UK
2022 Pyton Place, London Craft Week, curated by Pyton Galleri. London, UK
2021 New acquisitions at Haugar, Haugar Kunstmuseum
2021 CLINAMEN (Gillian Lowndes, Lydia Gifford, Marte Johnslien), FOLD, London
2021 Nyervervelser på Haugar, Haugar Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg, Norway
2020 Et Kollektivt Kaosmos, Kunsthall Oslo
2018 Sweep – Landskip, Kinokino, Sandnes, Norway
2017 Norwegian Sculpture Biennial, The Vigeland Museum, Oslo, Norway
2016 NN-A NN-A NN-A – New Norwegian Abstraction, Stavanger Art Museum, Stavanger
2015 A River in the Ocean. 12th Havana Biennial, Cuba
2015 NN-A NN-A NN-A – New Norwegian Abstraction, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo
2013 Inside Outside Architecture, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
2013 NoPlace presents… 24 Spaces, Malmø Kunsthall, Malmø
2012 CHROMA III, curated by Marie Nerland, Bergen Kjøtt, Bergen
2012 Endless You, Part of the Galleri D.O.R presentation at the Armory Show 2012, New York
2011 Black and White and Everything In-Between, History Forms My Revolution, Galleri Sverdrup, University of Oslo, Oslo
2010 Monument to the Right Angle. Modern Dialect, curated by Win Van den Abbeele, Museum of Modern Art Antwerp, Belgium
2008 Le Livre sur Le Livre, Bookish, curated by Matt Packer, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland
2008 Untitled (Blue), Untitled (Pink), Lights On, Bastard presents: Monumenti Mori, curated by Anders Smebye, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
2007 Norske Svik, Tempo Skien, curated by Marianne Zamecznik and Telemark Kunstnersenter, Skien
2007 Synthetic Nature, curated by Leif Magne Tangen, Kunstraum D21, Leipzig, Tyskland
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
KODE, Bergen
National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway
Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden, Norway
Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway
Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer, Norway
Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg, Norway
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
Søndre Borgen Barnehage, Asker
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Oslo Municipality
Faculty of Odontology, University of Bergen
Gulating Courthouse, Bergen
Norad Center of Development, Oslo