Kith Mjøen

Textiles drew her attention early. After her initial painting education, Mjøen studied at Statens lærerskole, where she trained in pictorial weaving, spinning, and plant dyeing. The result was not a shift away from painting but rather an expansion of her material thinking: she began incorporating threads directly into her oil paintings, either painting over them to create structural relief or pulling them out before the paint dried, leaving behind grooved, ornamental traces in the surface. These hybrid surfaces - part canvas, part textile - give her oil paintings a tactile depth that sets them apart from straightforward figurative work.

Mjøen also maintains her own printing press, using it to explore and combine techniques in original printmaking. Her graphic work ranges across Norwegian print traditions and takes up themes that recur throughout her practice - animals, human figures, landscape, and the kinds of atmospheric scenes suggested by titles such as "Hestekvinnen" (The Horse Woman) and "Syd for Derra." Her motifs are, as Norwegian critics have noted, poetic in conception and delivered with a stroke that is direct and sometimes gently humorous. The drawing itself - as a discrete discipline, not merely preparatory work - is central to her practice, and she treats finished drawings as independent works alongside her paintings and prints.

The Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo holds at least one of her works in its permanent collection, including a hand-woven tapestry from 1978-1979 using linen warp and coloured wool weft, as well as works from the graphic collection catalogued under titles such as "Ikke for enhver bare for forrykte" and "Balansegang." For much of her later career, Mjøen has lived and worked primarily on a restored vineyard in south-west France, finding in the Gascon landscape the quiet and the distance from the Norwegian art world that her working process requires.

On the Scandinavian auction market, Mjøen's work circulates almost exclusively through Fineart in Oslo, which accounts for all 55 lots recorded on Auctionist. Her prints sell in the accessible range typical of Norwegian graphic art sold through specialist print auctioneers: recent results include "Empty and awake" at 400 NOK and "When we walk, I see you" at 350 NOK, with 10 lots currently active. The concentration at a single house and the modest price range suggest a collector base drawn primarily from Norway, with buyers who are familiar with Norwegian graphic traditions rather than the international secondary market.