Elín Elísabet (1992) is an Icelandic artist mostly based in Reykjavík and Borgarfjörður eystri. She studied drawing at the Reykjavík School of Arts, graduating in 2016. After working as a freelance illustrator with one foot in the art world for a few years, she went back to school to study Fine Art at the Iceland University of Arts. Elín currently works mostly with oil paint and poetry.
Education
Iceland University of Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2021 - 2024
Art Academy of Latvia
Painting Department exchange program, 2023
Royal Drawing School, London
The Drawing Intensive Term, 2021
Reykjavík School of Visual Arts
Diploma in Drawing and Illustration, 2014 - 2016
Reykjavík School of Visual Arts
Foundation Programme, 2013 - 2014
Classes, Workshops, Residencies
Röstin Residency - Þórshöfn, Northeast Iceland. Group residency, 2020
The Royal Drawing School, London -Drawing Poetry and the Imagination, a class by Mark Cazalet and Perienne Christian, 2019
Thread Residency, Senegal - residency run by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Tambacounda, Senegal, 2017
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine - A Wind-Storm in the Forests - Visionary Landscapes, a drawing workshop led by painter Claire Sherman, 2017
The Reykjavík School of Visual Arts -Comics and illustration, 2017
The Reykjavík School of Visual Arts - Life drawing, 2016
Gaspar Ajú, oil painting in the style of Tz’utujil Mayas, San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala, 2012
Solo Exhibitions
Brot og brot - Paintings and poetry shown at Kubburinn, University of Arts Iceland, Reykjavík, November 2023
Ef þú horfir nógu lengi - Plein-air landscape paintings shown at Gletta art space, Borgarfjörður eystri, 2023
Pláss - Paintings shown at Gallery Port, Reykjavík, 2019
Senegal Manifesto - drawings from Thread residency, Senegal. Shown at Reykjavík Roasters, 2018
Onyfir - drawing exhibition/book launch, Fjarðarborg, Borgarfjörður eystri, 2016
Group Exhibitions
Hestsmiðjan - Reykjavík, 2022
Ská á móti Stælnum - Gallery Rotta, Reykjavík, 2022
Free Feeling - Terra Incognita - Brain Sneezing Gallery, Slovakia, 2020 and Hafnarborg, Iceland 2021
Sóttqueen - with Postprent, Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavík, 2020
Port IV - Gallery Port, 2019
Redrawn - by the Icelandic illustrators’ association, Reykjavik Art Museum, Design March 2018
A better Reykjavík - an outdoor exhibition in Skólavörðustígur, Reykjavík Culture Night 2017
Aliens - Reykjavík Art Museum, Design March, 2017
What the Children Want to See - a travelling exhibition featuring Icelandic illustrators, Gerðuberg and more, 2017
Collaborative Installations /Video Works
Kaupaekkertbúðin
with Rán Flygenring, 2023
Hótel Nýlundabúðin Puffin Hotel
with Rán Flygenring, 2021
Nýlundabúðin Puffin Shop
with Rán Flygenring, 2020
Site specific installations / pop-up performances and video works where we use the language of capitalism to critique it, as well as bringing attention to the rapid decline in ecological systems.
Awards
Jury’s Acknowledgement at Ljóðstafur Jóns úr Vör poetry contest for the poem Straumönd, 2024
Icelandic Booksellers’ Award, 3rd place, with Anna Sigríður Þráinsdóttir for the picturebook Á sporbaug, 2022
Fjöruverðlaunin: Women’s Literary Award, nominated with Anna Sigríður Þráinsdóttir for Á sporbaug, 2022
Stockfish Film Festival, Hótel Nýlundabúðin Puffin Hotel: Official Selection, Documentary Category, 2022
Icelandic Association of Graphic Design & Illustration, FÍT Award, silver for educational comics on soil science in collaboration with Melta, 2022
Talks and Teaching
Travelling workshops on birds and archeology for children in East Iceland. Collaboration with East Iceland’s Regional Museum, Fjarðarbyggð municipality and BRAS, East Iceland’s Children’s Culture Festival. With Rán Flygenring, 2021
Reykjavík School of Visual Arts, visiting lecturer in the field of comics and drawing, 2020-2022
Arts Directors’ Club of Europe festival, speaking as one of the festival’s High Potentials, Barcelona 2018
Iceland University of the Arts, speaker at Hugarflug, a conference on artistic research. Speaking about Onyfir, my picturebook documenting the atmosphere of Borgarfjörður eystri, 2017
Work Experience
Self-employed illustrator since 2016. Clients and collaborators include the Reykjavík Art Museum, Tímarit Máls og menningar, The Reykjavík Grapevine, Forlagið, the City of Reykjavík and the Ministry of Infrastructure.
I run a live drawing business called Jafnóðum with my colleague, Rán Flygenring. We specialise in analysing complex information and turning it live into drawings that simultaneously explain and entertain.
Other
Music
Singer-songwriter. I perform original songs with the choir/art collective Kliður as well as singing traditional Icelandic folk chants with Kvæðakórinn.
Guide
I am a qualified tour guide from the Icelandic Tour Guide School since 2014.
Hobbies
I enjoy literature, history, hiking and traveling. I have an affinity for remote places, particularly Borgarfjörður eystri (population 100) in East Iceland, where I worked in a fish factory from age 18. I write music and poetry and play the guitar and the piano.