My story as an artist
My name is Marjan Dijkstra from Madlocalart. My studio is located close to the fjord, between the mountains, in the Norwegian region Sunnmøre. Worldwide known for the Jugenstil town of Ålesund and Unesco village Geiranger. My main inspiration is this surrounding landscape, its humans and my own backyard and permaculture garden. I am a graduate at Ytre Kunstfagskole Ålesund in 2023. My heart beats faster for printmaking techniques like woodcut, intaglio and especially mezzotint. Here is my Artist Bio / CV
My work explores the interplay between the circadian rhythms, the local landscape, biology, and the body’s internal rhythms. Rooted in the fjord region, my practice draws from everyday observations, ecological gardening, and natural light conditions that shape human physiology and emotional states. I work primarily with woodcut, linocut, and mezzotint, using traditional techniques to investigate how hormones like melatonin, oxytocin, and growth hormone are influenced by our surroundings. Through layering techniques, I create rich colors that mirror natural light, emphasizing the micro-macro contrast of nature.
Linocut
Onion
Narcissus
Almond
21 x 30 cm
2026
Reading Room
Collection of Ideas
Crossroads
Vidunderlig Makt
30-50 x 50-70 cm
2025
This series presents four woodcut prints focused on library interiors, each depicting architectural spaces defined by structure, rhythm, and quiet spatial depth. Rendered in black ink, the works emphasize contrast, linear precision, and the expressive grain inherent to the woodcut process, where carved marks and pressure variations remain visible in the final print.
Each composition explores a different interpretation of the library as an architectural environment. Rather than functioning as literal documentation, the prints distill these spaces into their essential structural elements: shelves, staircases, arches, reading areas, and repeating vertical forms. The reduction to black and white intensifies the geometry of each interior, allowing light and shadow to become the primary means of defining space.
The woodcut technique plays a central role in shaping the visual language of the series. Carved lines introduce a physical texture that mirrors the constructed nature of the interiors themselves. Slight irregularities in ink coverage and print registration reinforce the handcrafted quality of the works, creating a dialogue between architectural order and manual process.
Across the four prints, variation emerges through perspective and spatial emphasis. Some compositions focus on towering vertical shelving systems, while others emphasize depth through receding corridors or layered architectural frames. Despite these differences, the series is unified through its monochromatic palette and consistent attention to structural rhythm.
Together, the works reflect an interest in libraries as both functional and symbolic spaces—environments defined by knowledge, order, and accumulation—translated here into a graphic exploration of form, repetition, and constructed quietness.
Eye (variation of colors)
21 x 26 cm
2023
