The Works of Solveig Haukaas

Solveig Haukaas started to work in an enamel workshop in Bergen, Norway when she was near 17 years old. One day of each week she attended art school and in the evenings she studied accounting. After four years of study, she made an examination piece (a silver bowl with etched pattern in the silver and covered with transparent enamel) and received a certificate.

Shortly after in 1961, she started her own workshop. She has made her living from making and selling enamels ever since. In the beginning, she started to supply a few shops, one in Oslo and one in Bergen; mainly pendants, earrings, cufflinks, and brooches of different sizes. F{er small items have always been easy to sell and she continues to make them.

Years later, she began making small enamel pictures. Her kiln could accommodate pieces up to 22 x L6 cm. She was able to make larger works by putting pieces together like a puzzle. Working in this method she made an embellishment for the Norwegian State. It measured I x 5 m. Twenty years ago she bought a kiln and can now fire works up to 40 x 45 cm.

The primary technique she employs is wet packing. "Before I start with a picture I fill my brain with information, I rarely use sketches. I make up my mind as to which colors will be the main colors I am going to use." She has hundreds of different enamel colors, both opaque and transparent and always uses copper as a base.

She sells her work from her workshop. She lives in a part of Norway that is visited in summertime by many tourists from all over the world. The access to her workshop is not the best, but those most interested come, and usually buy work. In May and June of this year she had a solo exhibition in Balestrand, with 19 oil paintings and 15 enamel pictures, all of them in larger sizes.

She is a member of the Norwegian Association for Visual Art, and Norwegian Association for Arts and craft. She is available to teach workshops and can be contacted at: shaukaas@online.no

In association with

Volume 28, Number 4, August, 2009

Glass on Metal is the only publication dedicated to enameling and related arts. Technical information, book reviews, how-to articles and insight on contemporary enamelers highlight each issue.