The title of this portrait of the Norwegian sculptor Anne Berit Nedland refers to her lifelong love for cats. She has sculpted cats in all imaginable situations.
Nedland received her formal training at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo and also received several scholarships during the period 1980 to 2001. She works with bronze, concrete, wood and paper mache.
Her works has been purchased by art galleries all over Norway . Born in the south of Norway in 1950, Nedland is now headquartered in the old firehouse at the former Oslo International Airport at Fornebo.
At present she is working on a sculpture for the 200 Year Anniversary of Gyland Church in Flekkefjord, a sculture of a longship with people representing all ages from birth to death.
In 2005 her video exhibition “Old Habits Die Hard” was presented at Art in General, New York.
Nedland’s work is authentic and her creativity is seemingly endless. She has experienced and lived what she depicts, and the title “Friends” refers to her lifelong love for cats. “Cats have followed me all my life,” she says, posing with her cat carriage, which eventually became a video presentation. Anne Berit Nedland is concerned by how animals are treated in general, and is a very nature conscious woman. The cats are certainly friends of an artist.
When asked if she would like her sculptures to be exhibited in the new Oslo attraction, the Ekeberg Sculpture Park, initiated and sponsored by Kristian Ringnes, she replies, “Of course, but Ringnes has already bought five of my female sculptures, called Dreamtime. They are hanging on one of the walls in his Folketeateret; actually an odd location, since the women are supposed to be lying down to sleep.”
At the present time several artists have studios at Fornebu, Oslo. There is even a little street called the “Artists’ Road” where there are art studios side by side.
Feature image (on Top): Friends