Mona Naess

"I collect and recycle mostly what nature has discarded or what has been in contact with Earth over time. I often use materials that I find on the beach where I live; water-polished bones, dead fish and birds, driftwood, terra cotta fragments, smooth porcelain pieces, rope-tangles, corrugated iron objects and old rusty farm tools. I also collect dead animals, birds and horns that I find in the woods and human hair from friends. In addition to the "discarded nature", I use Pure Nature - clay and porcelain, naked - rarely glazed."I've spent half my life helping commercial operators sell their goods as quickly as possible. After many years as a professional designer in the advertising industry, I decided I would no longer contribute to the disbursement of "new" objects. I wanted to use art as a tool to communicate an important ecological message."

"The aesthetics of nature is superior, but I am rearranging and staging an "awful & beautiful mix," and I hope that the viewer will recognize nature in an uncomfortable distorted way that would initiate a process of thinking beyond the simple art-object. I try to arrange an earth-dialogue; to present and twist the obvious. I am concerned about our interference with nature. My projects are...

Master Degree in Visual Arts, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Bachelor Graphic Design, London College of Printing, Postgraduate Certificate in Education - PPU.

www.monanaess.com