Scan Magazine | Gallery of the Month | Norway
Artists exhibited at the gallery include Gro Mukta Holter, Bjørg Thorhallsdottir, Dagfinn Knudsen, Nico Widerberg and Anja Cecilie Solvik.
Gallery of the Month, Norway
From the aeroplane to the art gallery After a 24-year career as an air hostess with Scandinavian Airlines SAS, art enthusiast Bente Robertson opened her very first gallery with her husband Trond Esben, striving to create a space for everyone to feel welcome and enjoy the artworks. By Line Elise Svanevik | Photos: Trond Esben Robertson
By creating a safe space with a low threshold for people to simply pop in and appreciate the art and warm atmosphere, Robertson hopes to create something that is different from the classic gallery, which, she suggests, is often a place that the average person shies away from due to steep prices. “We want to have an offer that everyone will dare to partake in,” explains Robertson. “We don’t want our visitors to feel like they have to buy something – we simply want 110 | Issue 103 | August 2017
to increase people’s interest and curiosity in art.” Galleri My, which hosts a range of lithography, aquarelle paintings, photography, glass art and ceramics, has created a basement studio in which local amateur artists can exhibit their works, which Robertson believes draws new people in. “Through these exhibitions, we attract the interest of the artists’ uncles and aunts who normally wouldn’t go to
a gallery and therefore wouldn’t come to ours,” she says.
Inspired by Lofoten Although the city of Narvik might not be known for its widely artistic community, Galleri My is the third gallery to appear in the city – the first being Galleri Lily. This helped spark people’s interest, and the feedback Robertson gets from the visitors now is great. “We often hear that the atmosphere and warmth in the gallery is extraordinary,” she says. “I once had a woman suffering from breast cancer who would regularly visit us because she wanted to come here and feel the peace and quiet within our