BAER Art Center (Hofsós, Iceland)

During the month of June I am residing and working at BAER Art Center in Hofsós, Iceland. The facility is in horse country; the grounds serve both as subject matter for visiting artists and architects and pasture for a horse breeding facility run by the owner and director of BAER, Steinunn Jónsdóttir.

The Art Center was started in 2008. Visitors are housed in a new building that stands where there was once a dilapidated sheep barn. Steinunn has completely remodeled the interior of the main house, adjacent to the residences, to serve as a center for meals and a summer home for her family. She has carefully preserved the exterior character of this building as well as the original lay of the land. There are five visitors including myself. We convene for lunch, dinner and a weekly tour of the countryside.

We are just inside of the Arctic Circle; the sun never sets and June 21st is the longest day of the year.

Looking west towards Fjord Skagafjörður. To the right is Drangey Island. Legend describes the islands' origins as follows: "...two night trolls, who lived at Hagranes, were taking their cow to be serviced by a bull, for which they had to go all the way west to Standir. They set off on their journey, the troll leading the cow, and the troll-wife walking behind. But they had only gone a short distance out into the fjord when dawn broke in the east and they were all turned into stone. The troll-wife is the rock pillar named Kerling (Old Woman) at the south of the island, and the male troll was another rock pillar, known as Karl (Old Man), which stood at the north of Drangey until it collapsed in an earthquake in 1755. The island, of course, is the troll cow."