During the project there are three Artists in Residences, one in each country. The artists work transnationally within the project activities on land art installations together with more cocreators like more artists, gardeners and architects. In different ways local cultural audiences of young people, elderly and families, civil society & associations, outdoor/nature enthusiasts & associations are also invited to the processes. This could be through workshops and associated public- and educational activities. Off Season Art Gardening creates opportunities for competence and professional development, gives access to new international audiences/markets, and transnational knowledge exchange.
Jack is a multi disciplinary artist who is not shy to experiments. He makes abstract paintings and uses strange materials such as sand, cement or clay mixed with paint or pigment. Lately he is also looking for other ways of expression by means of installations, sculptures ans landart. What fascinates him as an artist is the landscape, the elements and the primal forces of nature. With his work he wants to convey his respect and love for nature to the viewer.
Andrius is a blacksmith, who developed his skills at the Lithuanian Academy of Arts, speciality metal art. He is from 2014 – today participating at the traditional exhibition of city Ukmergė artists. He has had exhibitions in Ukmergė gallery, Skara, Herrljunga Sweden. He has participated in the international art project “Sea-knot“ (Klaipėda) two times and been an organizer and participant of the international metal art symposium in Ukmergė city “A lot of pigeons in Ukmergė“. The artist has also been a participant of an international blacksmith symposium in Užventis country.
Ulrika Jansson’s practice has its roots in place and the interconnections of the natural ecology and culture. She explores actions, methods and objects that affect human imagination and perception to create ecological intimacy and an experience of the interdependence of everything on earth. Her art works; installations, sculpture, drawing, video, sound and performance, make inhabitants sensitized to their surroundings and by extension to the environment at large. A number of her commissioned public art works have engaged with birds, bats and solitary bees, visualizing and inspiring positive socio-ecological relations in cities. Ulrika Jansson has a Master of Fine Art from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm from 2005 and has participated in exhibitions and artist in residencies in several countries since.
Jonas work is defined by an on-going exploration of materials and mediums. In recent years he has had solo-shows at among others Gallery Steinsland-Berliner, The Drawing museum, Örebro konsthall, Alma Lövs Museum, Ystad museum of Art, Concordia (NL), Hans & Fritz Contemporary (ES) and Haninge Konsthall. He has recieved numerous awards and grants and is currently reciever of the Swedish Arts Councils five year grant.
Vaidas has created a number of monuments and he works with different materials. ”For me the most important thing in art is message or a lot of messages and someone who reads. Also story, correct place, time and responsibility. I am not creating decoration, only idea. And the idea is not dead end for me, the most important for me is influence”.
Cora grew up near Amsterdam and now lives in Friesland. She started her creative career in 2014 at the Academy for realistic fine art in Deventer. In 2017 she started at the Art Academy Friesland. She works with different disciplines such as land-art, photography, drawing, painting – but sculpturing appeals the artist the most. “The outside is often nothing what it seems like. You have to look further to discover reality. I express this through material use, for example glass, color, dark and light and the open forms.”
Joop is a founder and artistic leader of Oerol and Sense of Place.
Oerol is cultural festival, founded in 1981, and held annulally in June on the island of Terschelling. Sense of Place is an organization dedicated to raising awareness among the Dutch public of the rich nature, landscape and cultural history of the Wadden Area (UNESCO world heritage) by staging cultural landscape projects. The secondary purpose of these projects is to boost the local economy and strengthen the local social fabric. In addition to staging its own projects, Sense of Place often also supports initiatives by local communities and help them to bring these to fruition. These projects respect the area’s culture and natural environment and tell a story of the location and scenery. Through these varying interventions in the landscape, the various locations add to the appeal of the area and imbue it with meaning: a Sense of Place.
Česlovas Lukenskas is one of the most prominent pioneers of contemporary interdisciplinary art in Lithuania. He has held several dozen personal exhibitions and projects in Lithuania and abroad. He is also a winner of various awards and scholarships. Česlovas is a member of Lithuanian Artists’ Association, the founder and member of the “Post Ars” group. His works have been exhibited in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Abtei Liesborn museum (Germany), London (UK), Brixen (Italy), Paris, Nimes (France), Espaco IMERGE (Porto, Portugal), Copenhagen (Denmark). He has participated in group exhibitions in Kiev (Ukraine), Pereslavl-Zaleski (Russia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Warsaw (Poland), Tampere Hall (Finland), Bekesaba and Budapest (Hungary), Chicago (USA) and elsewhere. Works by Č. Lukenskas have been bought by Lithuanian Museum of Art, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, MO Museum, private collectors in Lithuania and abroad.
Together with a group of artists from “Post Ars”, he has been awarded the Grand Prix for Post-Industrial Landscape regeneration project “Score” at Europa Biennale Niederlausitz II (Germany) in 1993. In 2009 he was selected as the most memorable artist in Kaunas.
Maik ter Veer is founder and creative director of Robodock. He has been an initiator and organizer of special event and art productions for over 25 years. Surrealist, dreamer, doer and visionary. He designs and programs large-scale artistic formats, images and festivals as a total concept. To this end, he combines theater, visual art, technology and spectacle tailor-made for industrial buildings and locations. He prefers to use recycled offshore residual materials from old port areas and factories. This special way of working results in internationally unique performances and artistic images, which are created with serendipity and respect for craftsmanship. Maik is also active as a furniture maker, steel worker, producer and improvisation musician.
Martin is a cultural coordinator in Mariestad Municipality since 2014. Martin awarded the degree of Bachelor of Education in Art and Design at the University of Umeå with an extra year of deepened studies in art history and graphic design. He has worked as an art teacher in both Swedish and English school systems (International Baccalaureate) for many years. He is also a professional photographer. Over the years, Martin has developed the Creative School in Mariestad municipality, where all students in preschool and elementary school have had the possibility to practice art under the guidance of professional artists.
Lars Vipsjö is PhD in Art History and Visual Studies, senior lecturer in Media Arts, Aesthetics and Narration at the University of Skövde. He has taught courses in art, design and media, at secondary, post-secondary and university level. Teaches and conducts research on cultural mediation and gaming applications. In 2014 Tecknad karaktär. Anatomi, fysionomi och psykologi was published with Kevin Bergsten. The book sketches a historical background to the contemporary drawn character, and problematize about norms, ideals, prejudices and stereotypes. Current research deals with cultural heritage passed on through gaming technology and a transmedia storytelling aimed at a younger audience. Lars is also the Project manager for Cultural Heritage and Gaming Technology in Skaraborg (KASTiS), a project started in August 2015 (first part). Second part started January 2019, ending in December 2021. KASTiS is supported by Skaraborgs Municipal Association Growth Committee and is linked to the focus area Culture. KASTiS aims to develop a sub-regional collaborative and knowledge platform for the use of gaming technology in cultural mediation for municipalities, academia and the private and public sectors in Skaraborg.
Artūras is an architect at Ukmergė‘s municipality. Before that he worked in the Cultural heritage department under the Cultural ministry. In his daily work Artūras seeks to fill the city with sustainable content (artistic, architectural, urbanistic) in harmony with the historic headquarters and in relation with the sense of place.
Mother and daughter working together at their firm Färgkraft in Lyrestad, Mariestad municipality. They work whith dyeing textiles, screenprinting, weaving and embrodery in all types of natural textile fibers. They experiment and mix hard and soft materials in two and three demensions, preferably wool and iron. They also make knitting designs in their own developed wool yarn. All their work is always in a sustainable development, choosing only wool from our scandinavian sheep and dyes and approaches that are environmentaly friendly.
Together they have made several exhibitions. They also work with different groups of people from 10 to 80 years old and love to inspire their groups, to create new things in different techniques, to wake awareness of the sustainability of natural fibers. In this project they have led public workshops that resulted in co-created artworks along the Art Trail Tidan.