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| Korpulfsstadir, Reykjavik |
I have begun my SIMs Iceland residency at Korpúlfsstaðir, a large old building (almost 100 years old) that used to be Iceland's largest dairy farm, on the outskirts of Reykjavík with beautiful view of mt. Esja and the fjords. Korpúlfsstaðir is on the eastern outskirt of Reykjavík, about 10 km away from the city centre. Korpúlfsstaðir also houses 40 SÍM artist studios, a textile workshop, a ceramic workshop, and artist run gallery.
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| View of the Fjord, a 5 min walk from our residency |
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| The attic studio - love those old wooden beams And a very clean desk - you can tell this photo was taken on the first day here! |
For the next month I will be sharing the accommodation and studio space with two other visiting artists, Kim Mirus a textile artist, and Jonathan Lipkin, a photographer. Its fabulous to have the opportunity to share with like minded people - not only are we sharing space, but also ideas and swapping of knowledge.
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| Outside the Alafoss wool store |
Almost as soon as we landed we started exploring. Kim has been to Iceland before and was familiar with the fabulous textile stores and on the first day we visited Alafoss, a well known textile store that specializes in all things relating to Icelandic wool. Here I was introduced to yarn being sold in 'plates' and sold by weight, rather than the typical skein or ball of wool. Of course, I couldn't resist and bought some beautiful fleece with the intention of learning how to learn to drop spin whilst I was here (Kim promised to show me how!)
The next day (Saturday 4 Nov) we travelled to Thingborg, Selfoss, another sought after textile location to buy raw untreated fleece which came in the natural colours of black, brown and white. The lopi is soft and without synthetic dyestuffs so the natural colours are truly warm and lustrous. There are two layers of wool, tog and þel, (outer- and undercoat) which are separated by hand. The “tog“ has coarse, long and lustrous hairs but the “þel” is soft, resilient and warm. It is very luscious - and it looks very different to the Australian fleece that I am used to.
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| Secret Lagoon |
On our drive back to Reykjavik we stopped in at the Secret Lagoon for a quick dip. Whist the weather was below zero, the water was incredibly warm and I ended up soaking in the rejuvenating waters for over an hour! I can see why the hot pools are where everything happens (business negations etc) since this is such a pleasant place to be.
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| Thingvellier |
Everything is breathtakingly beautiful here and at every twist in the bend we can't help but utter 'wow' as we happen upon more stunning scenery. I rely in my iPhone for most photograpy these days, and now I wish I brought my SLR (note to self: remember it next time I come).
Amongst all this activity we were also actively watching the skies at night for a glimpse of the Northern lights. We have been incredibly lucky and have seen them on a few occasions. We saw the most spectacular display of green, whites and pinks dancing across the sky due to a solar storm. Now all my dreams have come true!!
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| Northern Lights |
In order to maximize our time with the hire car, we also squeezed a day trip to Snaefellness Peninsula, which is a microcosm of all Icelands delights. We saw the elusive arctic fox, seals, glaciers and pointy mountains, a natural mineral spring (just like Sanpellegrino) which was reputably for 'people who suffer from heart and kidney disease as well as diabetes, Just in case I bottled some for the drive!
The highlight of the day was stopping at Djupalonssandur (translated as black lava pearl beach) and it was just like stepping into a lava wonderland. It is known for its elf churches and stone trolls (rock formations) - with such descriptions, we had to visit it.
I think there is definitely magic here.
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Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting.
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